NEW Zealand’s minister for rail, Winston Peters, officially opened KiwiRail’s new Waltham Maintenance Hub in Christchurch on April 24. The 9400 m² facility, equipped with an underfloor wheel lathe, has cost $NZ 110m ($US 64m), funded by the government.
The new hub and will consolidate all fleet maintenance activities on the South Island into a single location, allowing the closure of existing sites at Addington and Middleton. On display during the opening ceremony was the first of 47 Stadler DM diesel locomotives, built in Valencia, Spain, and ordered for $NZ 372m.
The South Island fleet forms part of a major order for 66 DM locomotives worth $NZ 533m, placed from Stadler in 2021 and financed by the government. Deliveries are due to be completed over the next two years.
46 Wabtec locomotives, which will be replaced by the new South Island fleet, were sold to South African operator Traxtion last year for refurbishment and reuse in Africa.
“The Waltham hub and the DMs are a game-changer for KiwiRail’s South Island operations,” says KiwiRail CEO, Peter Reidy.
“Waltham ensures our maintenance crews have the capability to move to the preventative asset management approach needed to deliver consistent reliability of service for our customers. The building will allow work on 24 different assets to be carried out at the same time.”
Reidy adds that the new fleet of DM locomotives is due to be delivered in batches over the next two years.
