It opened in response to political pressures from provincial groups for decentralisation, with the Victorian Railways preferring the cheaper option of expanding the existing Newport Workshops in suburban Melbourne.

[3] The 1980s were also a time of restructuring, with run down facilities replaced and modernised, but a large number of the 540 employees were made redundant.

[3][5][6] In 2005, Alstom sold its Australian and New Zealand operations to United Group (and its subsidiary UGL Rail) which included a lease on the workshops.

[10] Some of work undertaken that the workshops had included refurbishment of Comeng and Hitachi trains for Connex Melbourne.

[11][12] It had also fitted Train Protection & Warning System equipment to the V/Line fleet,[13] and constructed 61 new 100-tonne bulk grain hoppers for Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia.