Hillside Engineering

During 2003 Hillside won the contract to refurbish several old retired Queensland Rail SX cars, that were purchased from the Zig Zag Railway in Australia.

In 2004, Hillside started work on rebuilding imported British Rail Mark 2 passenger cars for use in Auckland on commuter trains.

On 30 October 2019, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Government would be investing $20 million into re-establishing Hillside workshop as a mechanical hub and heavy engineering facility to service KiwiRail's locomotives and rolling stock.

[4][5][6] On 20 May 2021, State Owned Enterprises Minister David Clark confirmed that Hillside Engineering would receive NZ$85 million for new facilities to assemble about 1,500 wagons as part of the 2021 New Zealand budget.

Transport Minister Michael Wood also stated that about 445 jobs would be created between Hillside and a new South Island Mechanical Maintenance Hub based in Christchurch.

[10] The opposition ACT Party and the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union claimed the Hillside investment was wasteful, likening the Government's actions to Communist policies in North Korea and Poland.

In response to criticism, Railways and Maritime Union national secretary Wayne Butson contended that the Hillside redevelopment project would benefit both the Otago region and New Zealand.

[11] In early January 2022, the ACT Party obtained documents under the Official Information Act 1982 showing that KiwiRail officials had expressed concerns about the Government's NZ$85 million budget allocation to reopen the Hillside workshop in Dunedin; estimating that it would cost between NZ$305 and 400 million to properly equip the factory.

While the ACT Party's transport spokesperson Simon Court claimed the Hillside project was unsound and based on political expediency, Transport Minister Wood and State Owned Enterprises Minister Clark claimed that the Hillside factory would bring good, high-paying engineering jobs back to Dunedin after the previous National Government shut it down.

[14] By February 2024, KiwiRail regional manager Alan Hill confirmed significant progress in the redevelopment of the workshops, which were expected to be completed by mid-2024.