Rachel Reeves has announced the £445m at today’s Budget Statement in the House of Commons, saying the funding would go towards new stations at Newport Road, Cardiff Parkway, Newport West, Newport East, Llanwern and Magor along with the other Burns report recommendations.
Improvement would also be made to Cardiff West Junction to allow more trains to pass through this busy part of the rail network.
Investment would also see the replacement of dangerous level crossings in North Wales along with improvements to Padeswood Sidings to increase capacity between Wrexham and Bidston.
There was no announcement of any rail investment West of Cardiff however.
The investment would also be stretched out over 10 years, meaning just £45m per year was to be invested by the UK Government in the Welsh rail network, which is not devolved to the Welsh Government.
Welsh Liberal Democrat’s Westminster Spokesperson David Chadwick MP called the spending announcement “measly”.
Mr Chadwick said: “Labour’s contempt for Wales just gets worse and worse.
“The indefensible decision to spread this measly amount of rail funding over 10 years not only robs Wales of what it is owed for past projects, but also guarantees that we will continue to fall behind in infrastructure spending, as major transport projects in England get the green light.
“Labour clearly has no interest in growing the Welsh economy or giving us the tools we need to thrive and attract investment into our country.”
The Welsh Conservatives meanwhile said Rachel Reeve’s announcement was three times lower than the previous Tory Government spent on Welsh railways over the same period between 2014 and 2024.
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Darren Millar MS, said: “Today’s rail spending announcement is an insult to the people of Wales.
“The previous UK Conservative Government invested over £1bn in rail infrastructure between 2014 and 2024 and promised over £1bn more to deliver the electrification in North Wales. Shameful.”
Plaid Cymru Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “The announcement of £44.5 million a year for Welsh rail over the next decade is Labour’s flimsy fig leaf to excuse the multi-billion-pound, multi-decade scandal that is the Welsh rail injustice. Today’s funding is only meaningful if it matches what Wales will continue to lose from HS2 and all other English rail projects in the future.
“Labour hopes a few token projects will distract from deep cuts to vital services that hit the most vulnerable hardest, all while shifting the goalposts on Welsh funding. The unfair Barnett formula remains open to manipulation, just as the recent example of the Oxford-Cambridge line displayed, with the Treasury bizarrely claiming that a railway line in the south-east of England would benefit Wales.
“For Wales, today’s statement was more smoke and mirrors. It’s time to deliver the fair funding Welsh communities desperately need and deserve.”
There has been no comment from Welsh Labour or Welsh Government.
