Midland manufacturer Severn-Lamb is poised to sign the biggest contract in its history with a £247 million deal to build a new monorail system in the former Soviet Union.
Representatives from the Warwickshire-based company will travel to Washington next month to seal the deal for the new transport system in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan.
It follows the company's success in building platforms for the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics this summer and a transport system at the new Disneyland Hong Kong due to open next year.
Heinz Roosen, managing director of Severn-Lamb, said the new monorail contract would have significant spin-offs for other regional manufacturers.
Severn-Lamb will spend the next five years building the 46 trains, each with six carriages, which will operate on 50 miles of track which is planned in Almaty. Mr Roosen said: "This is a massive project and we will definitely be needing some help with it.
"As soon as we have formally signed the agreement we will be approaching other companies to help build the trains."
The monorail is being funded by a group of American financiers, who will operate it for the first ten years before handing it over to the authorities in Kazakhstan.
The deal will see a massive change at Severn-Lamb which currently employs around 50 people and has a turnover of £6.5 million.
Mr Roosen said the deal could mean the company taking on more project managers to oversee the outsourcing work.
He said up to 20 extra people could be taken on while the project is completed.
"This is the culmination of 14 months' work developing and designing a monorail. It's a whole new concept for us in that it is a walk-through train, and we are delighted to have won the contract.
"We managed to beat major competitors like Hitachi to win it.
"It is quite a big step up for us. Although we have built monorails in Italy and Malaysia this will take us to the next level.
"It's like having a BMW Series 3 and now we've gone straight to the Series 7."
Mr Roosen said he hoped the Almaty monorail, which will be able to travel at speeds up to 70kph, would prompt further projects closer to home.
Exports at present account for 90 per cent of the company's sales.
He said: "This is a wonderful shop window.
"Almaty is a city which has transport problems like Birmingham and is using a monorail system to help alleviate them. Over there people are having to spend two hours in their cars when they go to work.
"They recognise the need to do something.
"They started an underground ten years ago but abandoned it because it became too expensive.
"We would love to be able to do something like this monorail in Birmingham."
Francoise Severn-Lamb, a director of the company, said: "No contract is too big and this one is going to keep us busy for the next five years.
"It means we can sleep happily instead of fighting day after day.
"We are now looking to work with local companies and share that happiness around.
"We are trying to employ local people and work with local companies.
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