New stations in £445m 10-year Wales rail plan

New rail projects for Wales worth £445m were announced by the Labour Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in her spending review on Wednesday.

The Treasury backed plans for five new stations in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire, as well as upgrades in north Wales, with £348m to be spent between 2026 and 2030.

The rest of the cash will be spent over ten years. The announcement follows years of complaints from Welsh Labour of underinvestment in the Welsh railway network.

The chancellor told the Commons the whole funding package was over ten years - forcing Labour sources and a UK government minister to clarify that most of the cash would be spent much sooner than that.

Opposition politicians in the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats were scathing of the overall 10-year timeline, with a Tory spokesperson calling it a "disgrace".

Experts at Cardiff University said the announcements felt "underwhelming" after the Welsh government "apparently expended significant political capital in pushing the case".

The UK government said the package had "the potential to be truly transformative".

The spending review set out Reeves' plans for how public services will be funded for years to come.

It said the Welsh government, which spends cash on the NHS, schools and local government, will receive an additional £1.6bn each year on average.

The announcement follows weeks of rows between Welsh and Westminster Labour, as concerns grew over the next Senedd election with polling suggesting the party could lose its dominant role in Welsh politics.

According to the Treasury, the £445m will be spent on fixing level crossings, building new stations and upgrading existing lines, and is a combination of direct funding for schemes and cash for the Welsh government.

The projects backed include schemes that the Welsh Transport Secretary Ken Skates and others have lobbied the UK government for, originating from a range of transport reviews covering north and south Wales.

They include new stations at Cardiff East, near the city's Newport Road, and in the west of Newport.

There are hopes for a station in the eastern Newport suburbs of Somerton and Llanwern, and one that will serve the Monmouthshire villages of Magor and Undy, along with improvements to the mainline to allow local services to run.

The stations were proposed by a review to boost rail transport in a region that has seen an increase in house building in recent years, but is connected via the congested M4 motorway and has a limited local railway service.

The work is estimated to cost £385m over at least five years.

Improvements are also pegged for services in north Wales, including services between Wrexham and Liverpool.

The Treasury called the cash the "cornerstone of the UK government's plan to address decades of underinvestment in critical infrastructure that has held back the Welsh economy".

In the Commons, the chancellor said: "I am pleased to announce today £445m for railways in Wales over ten years."

Reeves said the railway funding "was the difference made by two Labour governments working together to undo a generation of underfunding and neglect".

Documents for the review showed that £300m has been earmarked for mainline railway projects over four years - including the new stations and improvements to a junction in the west of Cardiff.

BBC Wales was told that the figure also includes £48m for the Welsh government's enhancements to the Core Valley Lines network, which is managed separately and makes up most of the Metro project in south Wales.

Around £90m is thought to be earmarked for work on a series of future projects over ten years.

Torsten Bell, Labour Swansea West MP and a Treasury minister, denied that the cash was to be provided over a ten year period.

"It's not over ten years," he told the BBC, with the "vast majority going right away".

Asked if the chancellor was not clear enough, he said: "She was very clear that Wales was getting huge investment in rail."

Welsh Finance Minister Mark Drakeford remonstrated in the Senedd with the leader of Plaid Cymru when it was suggested in a debate that the £445m was over ten years.

After Rhun ap Iorwerth heckled that the chancellor had said it, Drakeford turned and pointed at him and said: "I am telling you. I'm the finance minister here. Would you like to listen to me":[]}