The Government has already committed $750 million to help KiwiRail and it would be hard to argue it should follow that up with a subsidy to build its wagons, Transport Minister Steven Joyce says.
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.
Engineering businesses warn any hit to KiwiRail's Hillside Engineering workshops will hurt Otago's economy as unions vow to stand alongside workers worried about their future.
Social networks Twitter and Facebook could play a part in pushing the case for the Hillside Engineering Group Dunedin workshops to build flat-deck wagons for its owner KiwiRail.
The decision by KiwiRail to award the tender contract for 300 container flat-deck wagons to the China CNR Corporation against its own Dunedin Hillside Engineering workshops is a savage blow to the city and the province and leaves the Government vulnerable to accusations of "short-termism".
Kiwirail has awarded an estimated $29 million manufacturing contract to a Chinese company in what has been derided as a potentially terminal blow to its Dunedin workshop.
KiwiRail's decision to increase the short-list of prospective tenderers for a $500 million contract to build Auckland's electric trains, has surprised and disconcerted members of a working group hoping to win some of the construction work for Dunedin's Hillside Engineering workshops.
The possibility of Dunedin's Hillside Engineering workshops winning some construction work on the $500 million tender for Auckland's trains appears to have increased with the release of KiwiRail's Request for Proposal (RFP) documentation.
Three of the four shortlisted tenderers for construction work on the $500 million tender for Auckland's trains have signalled they may visit Dunedin within the next month to investigate the city's engineering capabilities.
A public meeting is to be held in Dunedin to gauge support for Auckland's trains to be built at Hillside workshops.
A group of Government, Dunedin City Council and Dunedin business representatives, established to win some of the construction work on the $500 million tender for Auckland's trains, has widened its scope to encompass all of Dunedin's engineering firms.
Any lingering hopes KiwiRail's Hillside workshops might get the chance to build trains for Auckland have been dashed.
Any lingering hopes KiwiRail's Hillside workshops might get the chance to build trains for Auckland have been dashed.
Dunedin yesterday launched its bid to have a $375 million contract for Auckland's new electric commuter trains awarded to railway workshops in Dunedin and Lower Hutt - creating as many as 1270 jobs.
Labour and the Greens are throwing their weight behind a union campaign for KiwiRail to build Auckland's new electric locomotives and railcars.
