Hillside Engineering workers do not believe the Chinese company contracted to build KiwiRail's new wagons will get the job done on time, Rail and Maritime Transport Union national president Jim Kelly says.
Hillside owner KiwiRail this week confirmed China CNR Corporation had won a $29 million contract to build 300 open-top wagons by mid-2011.
It said Hillside's tender was 25% higher and assessors did not think the workshops had the capacity to deliver all the wagons by the deadline.
CNR built KiwiRail's new diesel-electric locomotives. They were due mid-year, but were not delivered until November, "so we can't see how they can be confident" the wagons would arrive on time, Mr Kelly said.
KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn confirmed the locomotives were late but said they were much more complex than wagons.
CNR had built wagons for New Zealand and delivered them on time. It also sent thousands of wagons to Australia and was the key provider to most of its railways.
It also considered the impact on revenue of having Hillside progressively releasing wagons but decided it did not have the staff available and it would take six months to get the components.
"We would still have been left with the fact that the Hillside price was significantly more expensive."
