Workers say new hope has been breathed into Dunedin's Hillside railway workshop after a major redevelopment was unveiled today.
The upgrade will include a new mechanical workshop, a new wagon assembly facility, new shared offices, workshops, equipment and a visual revamp of the site. Photo: KiwiRail
The government announced $85 million to build a new wagon assembly facility in last week's Budget.
It follows nearly $20 million already earmarked from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) in 2019 to upgrade two main rail workshops.
The workshop's future looked bleak in 2012, when it was mostly closed down and about 90 staff laid off, but today the mood was buoyant as the major upgrade was revealed.
Plans include a new mechanical workshop able to work on up to 20 locomotives or wagons at a time, a new wagon assembly facility where KiwiRail expects to assemble at least 1500 wagons over three years, new shared offices, workshops, equipment and a visual revamp of its site to include a memorial walk that recognises the history of rail at Hillside.
KiwiRail group chief executive Greg Miller was over the moon.
"It's phenomenal. You know, we've got seven people here that went through the shutdown that have been here for nearly 45 years. So they've seen every manner of change at Hillside," Miller said.
"So this morning's meeting was ecstatic. We've got 55 people employed here now and a lot of those are cadets and apprentices as well, male and female. But the meeting we had today to explain the transition, there was a huge amount of positive energy."
The project would use funding from the Budget and the PGF.
Roughly 250 construction jobs would be needed for the rebuild and KiwiRail would take on at least 45 new staff for the wagon assembly itself.
An image of the planned redevelopment of the Hillside railway workshops in Dunedin. Photo: KiwiRail
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that meant New Zealand would be producing wagons instead of importing them fully assembled.
"By assembling here, you know that gives us assurances around quality," Ardern said.
"That gives us assurances around a training pipeline so that we have those who are here assembling also part of the maintenance network, and I would push back hard on anyone who would say that it's a better decision to have that work all done offshore.
"There are some things that need to be done here in New Zealand and this is one of them."
KiwiRail has committed to at least 10 percent of its new workers being apprentices or trainees.
Team leader Gary Dalzell has been at Hillside for 41 years, and he described it as a family.
"It's always great to come to work and reconnect, have a bit of a joke, that sort of thing. But when in 2012 we became even a tighter knit family - when there was only seven of us having to keep the flag raised so to speak - now going to this, it's just awesome."
A staged demolition will begin this year with a new site expected to be operational by the end of 2023.