The state-owned railway will cut 158 positions from its 714-strong infrastructure and engineering division by the end of October. Of the 158 redundancies, 42 will be the northern region (Central North Island to Whangarei), 58 in the central area, (central North Island to Wellington) and 40 in the southern region (all of the South Island). Eighteen will be from the track machine team and rail welding which operates nationally.
More than 70 workers have already taken voluntary redundancy as part of the company's cost cutting measures. KiwiRail's total workforce prior to these latest cutbacks was 4100.
