Dunedin’s Hillside Workshop has produced its 500th rail wagon since starting production in March 2024, marking a major milestone for KiwiRail’s South Island operations.
Hillside is KiwiRail’s main heavy maintenance facility for the South Island, where locomotives and wagons are serviced and brand-new wagons are built in a purpose-built assembly workshop.
KiwiRail chief metro and capital programme officer David Gordon visited the workshops to congratulate the team. The goal is to assemble 1500 wagons before the facility transitions to focus on maintenance and refurbishment.
Despite industry-wide challenges over the past 18 months, including global supply chain disruptions and skilled labour shortages, wagon production has remained on track.
“KiwiRail’s wagon assembly operation is the only one of its kind in New Zealand, designed to meet the specific needs of New Zealand’s national rail network,” Gordon says.
“Building 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.”
The project has reduced reliance on overseas supply chains, increased local capability, and boosted regional employment.
“Significant 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.
“Our 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.”
KiwiRail moves 17 million tonnes of freight each year.
