The 1000th rail wagon has rolled out of Dunedin’s Hillside Workshops as KiwiRail progresses towards completing a 1,350-wagon assembly programme.
The programme began in March 2024, with the first 1,000 modern wagons now operating across KiwiRail’s national freight network.
Rail Minister Winston Peters says the milestone demonstrates the renewed role of Hillside in supporting New Zealand’s rail network.
“Hillside is part of New Zealand’s industrial heritage but a little over a decade ago it was being run down and written off. Today, it is assembling modern wagons for the national freight network,” Peters says.
“When last responsible for Rail, we committed the funding to demolish, rebuild, and start the assembly of 1,350 rail wagons at Hillside as the very first mechanical task for local Dunedin workers in the rebuilt workshops.”
The Hillside redevelopment supported more than 200 construction jobs, while the facility now employs around 60 mechanical engineers and wagon assembly staff, along with 50 infrastructure staff.
Its renewed facilities include a purpose-built operation capable of assembling up to two wagons a day, as well as mechanical workshop capability supporting South Island rail operations.
Peters says the investment is helping build freight capacity and reliability across the network.
“Rail is part of the freight solution for New Zealand – helping to clear busy ports, moving the heavy loads, and giving regional industries another practical way to get goods to market.
“We are seeing more road-rail hubs develop around New Zealand to share the load cost effectively,” he says.
“The new wagons are working assets that already contribute to KiwiRail lifting its reliability to attract customers and lift the value of the business for New Zealanders, as its owner.
“New Zealand will soon have one of the youngest rail freight rolling stock of any rail company in the world, setting a strong base to grow.”
The first 1,000 wagons have required approximately 16,000 tonnes of steel and materials, 4,000 wheelsets, 40,000 bolts and 60,000 washers. More than 8,000 quality assurance check sheets have also been completed.
“The production teams, planners, logistics personnel, quality specialists, engineers, maintenance teams and support staff at Hillside can be proud of how their work is contributing to rail’s success,” Peters says.
“This is about work, skills and contribution – with Kiwis learning and applying specialist rail skills at Hillside and looking forward to the next task after the assembly programme.”
