Bombardier has landed its biggest ever contract for its Aventra trains, with an order for 750 engines and carriages from the new operators of Britain’s South Western network.

The company designs and builds the trains at its plant in Derby, and the order will guarantee work there for years to come.

The order - which also covers spare parts and maintenance support - comes from FirstGroup and MTR who are taking over the South West rail franchise.

The deal is worth £895m and will run for the seven-year duration of the new franchise. The funding for the new rolling stock will be financed by train investment consortium Rock Rail.

The FirstGroup and MTR partnership will take over the South Western franchise on 20 August 2017 and the new trains will operate on the Windsor, Reading and West London suburban routes. The five and 10-car trains are set to start to appear on the rail lines in mid-2019 and all will be in place by the end of 2020.

Richard Hunter, UK managing director of Bombardier Transportation, said: “We are thrilled to have won this important contract. It demonstrates further confidence placed in this market leading rolling stock, designed and built in Britain.