SEPTA's board is expected to approve a $244 million contract next week for a Korean-Japanese consortium to build at least 104 regional rail cars over the next four years.

A staff recommendation that SEPTA accept the bid by United Transit Systems was made public yesterday.

The contract would be the largest investment SEPTA has ever made in regional rail vehicles, and would increase its fleet by 31 cars. The rest of the new Silverliner V cars would replace 73 aging rail cars that date to the 1960s.

"The ridership on the regional rails is so heavy, we owe it to the public to move this along," SEPTA general manager Faye Moore said in an interview. The net gain of 31 cars "should help us eliminate some of the standers" during peak times, and will leave room for ridership to grow, she said.

More than 106,000 passengers take SEPTA's regional trains on weekdays. According to the transit agency, that number has been increasing by about 3 percent annually.

SEPTA's board is scheduled to vote Thursday on the contract.

The UTS proposal was more than $52 million lower than an offer from Kawasaki Rail Car Inc., the only other bidder.

The Silverliner V project had been delayed for two years after Kawasaki sued SEPTA for selecting UTS from a group of four manufacturers in 2004. Kawasaki contended in the lawsuit that UTS was inexperienced and technically inferior, and that SEPTA had improperly switched its standards during the bidding to favor UTS.