The $7.5million upgrade of the Newport rail maintenance centre has reached the end of the line with a significant boost for the west.
Downer Rail, which owns the workshops, announced last week that the two-year upgrade had been completed.
It resulted in the recruitment of 80 new workers, many of them retrenched Toyota employees, bringing the headcount to 250.
The workshops began operating in 1882 and at its peak in the 1950s employed 5000 workers.
But only half of the 48.5-hectare site is currently active, with the remainder used for storing old trains.
Downer Rail is set to play a huge role in Melbourne’s transport future as it is part of the consortium which has been shortlisted to build 65 trains for the Pakenham-Cranbourne rail line.
Chief executive Michael Miller said the upgrade included the installation of a portal wheel lathe, the only equipment in Australia that could service train wheels that ran on all three rail gauges.
He said it positioned the railyard to attract more interstate work and build Australia’s “centre of excellence” for bogie servicing in Melbourne’s west.
“The new equipment and processes at Newport give Downer the ability to service any train running on Australian rail networks, significantly increasing the number of potential maintenance contracts available,” Mr Miller said.
“Rail maintenance work has been carried out on this site for over 130 years and this $7.5 million investment into a critical piece of Victoria’s rail infrastructure increases availability, improves reliability and reduces costs for our customers in Victoria and across Australia.”
LeadWest chief executive Craig Rowley welcomed the investment to create a leading rail maintenance service centre in the west.
“It creates jobs here and positions our region to play a huge role in Melbourne’s transport future,” he said.
Downer will invest a further $2.4 million in the Newport centre in August to increase its capacity and capability.
