More than one in every five South Island jobs at KiwiRail's infrastructure and engineering division is likely to go, the state-owned enterprise has confirmed.
KiwiRail employs 194 infrastructure and engineering workers in the South Island, 45 of them based in Dunedin, meaning nine Dunedin workers were likely to be made redundant.
Any job losses at South Dunedin's Hillside engineering workshops, which are on the market, would be additional.
KiwiRail planned to cut 43 divisional jobs in the South Island, along with at least 114 in the North Island.
Nationwide, 181 infrastructure and engineering jobs were on the chopping block, 24 of which would be lost from track machine teams.
KiwiRail wanted to save $14 million and indicated further job losses were possible next year.
Chief executive Jim Quinn said workers would find out in the next week whether their jobs were safe.
"We have looked closely at the existing 1000-strong structure and where the highest need for these staff will be over the coming years in order to propose these changes. This week, we will be informing staff about where the proposed reductions could be made by location and specific role," he said.
A final decision had yet to be made, and job cuts would not affect the safety of KiwiRail operations, Mr Quinn said.
KiwiRail had called for expressions of interest in voluntary redundancy and hoped to achieve its desired staff number through the process.
A new staff structure would be implemented from October.
