 In 1993 New Zealand Rail was privatised, and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995, before itself being bought out by Australian firm Toll Holdings in 2003, which was then re-nationalised as KiwiRail in 2008.On 1 April 2002, French engineering giant Alstom took over the operation of the Hutt Workshops on a seven-year contract to maintain Tranz Rail's fleet of locomotives.Three years later, United Group announced on 16 September 2005 that it had completed the acquisition of Alstom’s transport operations in New Zealand and Australia, including the Hutt Workshops.