KIWIRAIL has been allocated an extra $NZ 94m ($US 76m) as part of the New Zealand government's 2013-14 budget, which was announced on May 16.
KIWIRAIL opened a new rail link to dairy company Fonterra's milk powder plant at Darfield west of Christchurch on April 12, the first new section of railway to be constructed on the South Island of New Zealand for more than 60 years.
NEW ZEALAND'S national railway KiwiRail has announced the daily Capital Connection commuter service linking Wellington and Palmerston North will continue operating until 2015.
KIWIRAIL has launched its refurbished Tranz Alpine passenger train which has been re-equipped with new passenger coaches built at the Hillside workshops in Dunedin.
GREATER Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) is to order an additional 35 FP class Matangi two-car emus from Hyundai-Rotem for Metlink suburban services, instead of refurbishing the fleet of 44 EM class emus built by Ganz Mavag, Hungary, in 1982.
KIWIRAIL is to slash its infrastructure and engineering workforce by almost a quarter as part of its continuing drive to reduce operating expenses by $NZ 200m ($US 164m) over three years.
IN an effort to boost its financial performance, KiwiRail has announced plans to cut $NZ 200m ($US 161.5m) from expenses between 2013 and 2015.
THE credibility of KiwiRail's $NZ 4.5bn ($US 3.6bn) plan to turn the state-owned railway into a profitable business has taken a major hit after the New Zealand government minister for state-owned enterprises, Mr Tony Ryall cast doubt on KiwiRail's ability to generate the necessary revenue.
KIWIRAIL has begun the technical and legal process to revalue its assets to better reflect the revenue they generate. Under the revaluation KiwiRail's assets are likely to be revalued at approximately $NZ 1.1-1.3bn ($US 867m-1.02bn), significantly lower than their current book value of approximately $NZ 7.8bn.
KIWIRAIL is relaunching its only North Island long-distance passenger train, which operates between Auckland and Wellington, in a bid to make the service profitable.