Engineering giant Downer EDI has been chosen as the preferred supplier of 65 new Queensland trains as part of a $7.1 billion state government manufacturing program.
The ASX-listed company was chosen over two rivals to supply the six-car trains and will become Australia's biggest passenger rolling stock supplier and maintainer when the final contract is signed in March.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the tender process was run by his department without any involvement of politicians.
"It was entirely done independent of government, done on clear criteria, very strict probity, all the way and Downer has been selected by that process, and the government has accepted that recommendation," he told reporters on Monday.
The trains will be built at a new facility in the southeast city of Maryborough, as promised by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during the 2020 election.
She said the manufacturing plant will be completed next year and trains will begin rolling off the production line in 2026.
"So manufacturing is absolutely alive and well in this state, and Queenslanders can do anything, and in Maryborough we're absolutely at the front of the queue for that," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters in Maryborough on Monday.
The city of almost 28,000 is one of the major urban centres in the Fraser Coast region, where the local unemployment rate was about 8.5 per cent in 2021, according to the most recent census.
Maryborough's main industries are services, agriculture and tourism, but it has historically been a timber, sugar cane and railway town.
Ms Palaszczuk said the new hub at Torbanlea, about 25 kilometres north of Maryborough, will employ about 800 workers.
Under the contract, Downer will also design and build a train maintenance facility and stabling yards at Ormeau on the northern Gold Coast.
It would also operate that facility for at least 15 years and up to 35 years.
Downer chief executive Grant Fenn said the Queensland contract is line with the company's delivery of 119 Waratah trains in Sydney and High Capacity Metro Trains for the Victorian government.
"Downer is proud to be part of this project, which will change the way people travel around southeast Queensland," he said in a statement to the ASX.
