Hillside

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Members of the now defunct Hillside working party are willing to join forces if or when the need arises in the future, chairman John Christie says.

The Labour Party has committed to re-establishing the Hillside workshops in Dunedin if it forms the next Government.

Nearly 90 workers face redundancy, with the news only part of Kiwirail's Hillside Workshop in Dunedin has been sold.

Hillside Engineering Workshops staff who missed out on the contract to manufacture new wagons are being asked to repair faulty Chinese-made wagons.

Dunedin South Labour MP Clare Curran has come out swinging today after news that the brakes on 500 Chinese-built freight wagons ordered by KiwiRail had to be replaced before they could hit the tracks last year.

Dunedin's city leaders have officially put up a unified front to do whatever it takes to smoothly roll through the sale of Hillside Engineering.

Hillside is to be sold. While it is heartening to observe the optimism at the news emanating from parties connected to, and associated with, the long-standing South Dunedin heavy engineering business, only time will tell whether there is any realistic basis for it; and whether, several months hence, the 123 or so remaining skilled staff will still have employment, and Dunedin a potentially key operation in its cluster of remaining engineering companies.

Despite KiwiRail seeking expressions of interest for the sale of Dunedin's Hillside Engineering, the city's business community and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union are confident Hillside can survive.

KiwiRail is seeking expressions of interest for the sale of Dunedin's Hillside Workshops.