Dunedin’s Hillside Workshop has marked the production of its 500th rail wagon since production began in March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hillside is KiwiRail\u2019s main heavy maintenance facility for the South Island, where KiwiRail maintains its locomotives and wagons, and builds brand-new wagons in its purpose-built assembly workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
KiwiRail Chief Metro and Capital Programme Officer David Gordon visited the workshops yesterday and congratulated the team on reaching the major milestone. The goal is to assemble a total of 1500 wagons, at which point the workshop will transition to focus on wagon maintenance and refurbishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite industry-wide challenges over the past 18 months, including global supply chain disruptions and skilled labour shortages, wagon production has remained consistently on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cKiwiRail\u2019s wagon assembly operation is the only one of its kind in New Zealand, designed to meet the specific needs of New Zealand\u2019s national rail network,\u201d says Mr Gordon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBuilding and maintaining wagons requires specialist rail skills, which are not widely available in the local market. We’ve responded by developing these capabilities in-house: recruiting, training and upskilling a dedicated workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wider impact has been significant – reducing reliance on overseas supply chains, increasing local capability, and boosting regional employment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSignificant Government investment enabled KiwiRail to transform an old rail plant into a modern mechanical facility, allowing us to better deliver for our freight customers and grow rail in the South Island and the rest of New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur purpose-built facility not only supports domestic manufacturing, but also enables us to retire ageing wagons, reduce maintenance costs and improve performance for our freight customers, and for their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every year KiwiRail moves 17 million tonnes of our customers\u2019 freight. Its vision is to be the first choice for customers as a trusted and sustainable partner in moving freight and people. Having a modern, efficient fleet is key to realising that vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Via Scoop Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KiwiRail Chief Metro and Capital Programme Officer David Gordon visited the workshops yesterday and congratulated the team on reaching the major milestone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":265172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,163],"tags":[13813],"class_list":["post-265171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-zealand","category-rail-industry-news-australia-new-zealand","tag-dunedin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t