Down at the Station

摘要

In the 30 May budget KiwiRail was allocated $1 billion to upgrade the rail business. The main projects the money will be spent on are 1.Continued work on upgrading the Kaimai Tunnel and other ongoing maintenance infrastructure work 2.Improving freight handling equipment at Westfield and Southdown 3.Upgrade of freight reservation, booking and tracking computer system 4.Final payment on the 15 DL locomotives that arrived in October 2018 5.Purchase of 48 mainline and 52 shunting new locomotives, mainly for the South Island 6.Refurbishment of the EF class 7.Purchase of 900 new container wagons with some of the replaced older wagons being fitted with bolsters for log haulage 8.Upgrades at Hutt and Waltham maintenance facilities 9.Start on the design and procurement plans for two new rail-enabled ferries.Also in the budget was the funding of $405.5 million as the Government's share of the City Rail Link cost blowout. For a commentary on the budget, refer to From the Top of the Raurimu Spiral in this issue.