SEVEN new railway stations are to be built in Wales as part of a major funding announcement made by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Sir Keir said the UK Government would use nearly £500million promised in the recent spending review to continue the transformation of Wales rail network, building on the Welsh Government’s £1.1bn in upgrading and electrifying the Core Valley Lines and the £800m investment in four new fleets of trains.
Six of the stations will be in South Wales – Cardiff East, Cardiff Parkway, Llanwern, Magor & Undy, Newport West and Somerton (Newport) – with a seventh planned for Deeside Industrial Park situated on the Wrexham to Liverpool line. It is expected that construction work on the first of the stations for South Wales, Magor & Undy, will begin later this year and will be the first to be completed.
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The station at Cardiff Parkway, near St. Mellons – which has been on the cards for a long time – will provide a service for an estimated 800,000 passengers a year. This will unlock around 6,000 jobs in the adjacent industrial district, which will get revamped thanks to additional investment from the UK Government.
Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said:
“For too long, Wales has been let down by a UK government unwilling to do the hard yards and build the future they deserve.
This government is turning the page on historic dither and delay with seven new stations, thousands of jobs, and a generational commitment to build a rail network fit for Wales’ future.
“This isn’t tinkering nor sticking plasters. This is investment for the long term – and change communities will feel. This is putting Wales on the front foot and getting Britain building again.”
The news was welcomed by First Minister, Eluned Morgan, who confirmed the money will secure long-term commitments to key projects and a renewed ambition for the rail network.
A Transport for Wales (TfW) document, ‘Today, Tomorrow, Together: A Vision for Wales across Wales and Borders’ outlines other key projects including line speed increases between the Severn Tunnel and Cardiff, four trains per hour on the City line in Cardiff, Cardiff-Liverpool services, capacity improvements at Chester, service increases between Liverpool and Wrexham, plus electrification and crossing safety improvements along the North Wales Coast Line. In all, there are more than 40 potential schemes in the document which would cost around £14billion.
In addition, £140million has been earmarked to upgrade Cardiff Central station with work beginning this spring and completed by 2029. Also, TfW is close to launching its Class 398 tram-trains which will eventually be operating four trains per hour on the South Wales Metro line routes.
