Kawasaki’s subway car wins “Coolest Thing” contest

LINCOLN, Neb. (KSNB) - The Nebraska Manufacturing Alliance has completed its competition to decide the “Coolest Thing Made in Nebraska.”

The winner was the New York City transit subway cars, manufactured at the Kawasaki plant in Lincoln. Made to replace aging subway cars in New York, the Kawasaki website describes them as featuring LED lighting, digital displays, and wider doors for smoother boarding and exiting during congestion.

The subway car beat out the Pivot Walker, made by Chief Fabrication.

The “Grain Weevil” manufactured in Aurora made the semi-finals of the competition while the Mars 2020 duct, made by Royal Engineered Composites.

The contest is hosted by the NE Manufacturing Alliance. They said they had trouble connecting people with manufacturing but this contest helped show Nebraskans all the cool things that are created by manufacturers in the state.

They had 20,000 unique votes in the month-long contest.