'Rail in Wales has been a woeful tale. No more fanfare it's now time to deliver'

Political editor Ruth Mosalski casts her eye over tonight' major announcement and asks what do the big numbers actually mean and when will the new stations be built

Promises are being made about rail in Wales - again

There will be lots of talk and fanfare about rail in Wales today. You'll hear numbers like "12,000 jobs" and £14 billion. Politicians will stand and tell you they have good news and this is "once in a generation". The quotes that have been released, the numbers being touted are all big, impressive and full of adjectives.

But as is ever the case for these big announcements, they are also just numbers, just words, just promises, especially if you're someone sat on a railway station platform waiting for a service to arrive or in one of the many places in Wales that doesn't benefit from rail connections.

If you're someone who has followed the HS2 saga, the decades of underfunding on rail in Wales, then you're right to raise an eyebrow when you, again, hear someone declare there is another strategy about rail in Wales.

This announcement is coming just weeks out from an election where Labour in Wales faces, the polls say, an electoral hammering.

The party needs to produce a rabbit out of a hat, a heck of a rabbit if it tries to avoid electoral defeat, and it has needed something of an epic scale. There is plenty of excitement in political circles that this could be it.

Rail in Wales had been for a long time a woeful tale. Few could argue it has not got considerably better, not everywhere, granted, but the days of "Arriva Trains Fails" are long gone. You can now - in parts of Wales at least - get on a train which runs on time, has space, working Wifi, comfy seats.

Coryton and Penarth lines had a high level of trains being delayed, terminated early or cancelled(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)

Today, we're told this is a long-term commitment from UK and Welsh Governments and Keir Starmer will formally endorse the Transport for Wales vision for the future of Welsh rail, listing the projects that his UK Government will back.

"Together, both governments will provide better and more frequent services for passengers across the country, with the UK Government committing significant funding to deliver the next generation of Welsh rail projects," the official line says,

“This isn’t tinkering nor sticking plasters," the quote from the Prime Minister insists.

The words are stark - in its long-term vision for rail enhancement investment in Wales, the Wales Rail Board, made up of Welsh and UK Governments, TfW and Network Rail, lists 43 schemes, with a value of £14bn, which the UK Government today "endorses" and "commits to working in partnership with the Welsh Government to deliver this pipeline as quickly as possible".

But there are plenty of questions still outstanding. Ensure our latest news and sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings

How much will it cost? When will a new station or line be built? WIll it actually happen? Is this all just a pre-election gimmick?

Privately, those connected to this say it has been two years of slog to get this deal. It is, they say, the biggest deal since devolution in 1999. Despite the many political rows, the plan has not gone off course, they say.

Few would doubt promises about millions of pounds of money, and jobs, are not good news. But we've been here before.

If you can decipher political speak, there are some pledges within the documents released today.

First Minister Eluned Morgan(Image: Liam McBurney/PA Wire)

In terms of paying for it: "The pipeline is a generational transformational commitment, with exact, additional UKG funding allocations to be confirmed at future Spending Reviews," the press release says.

We already knew there was a commitment to new stations. Rachel Reeves had made clear in June's spending review she would give money to stations in Wales. That £445m pledged in the Spending Review, was, experts said at the time "underwhelming" and questions about the exact way the money would be spent went unanswered.

At that time, we were told the Treasury is providing £300m for five new stations around Cardiff and Newport between 2026 and 2030, and a series of improvement works including measures to improve capacity in north Wales.

The announcement today says it will fund stations in Magor and Undy, Llanwern, Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Cardiff Parkway and Deeside industrial park.

But when will they be ready?

The work at Magor and Undy; Llanwern; Cardiff East; Newport West; and Somerton will start "later this year", with, the details that have been released, say "the expectation" that construction of two will begin by 2029, with Magor and Undy expected to be the first of these stations to be completed.

The north Wales station will be ready within a year, we're told.

The reality is, the Wales Rail Board will have to prioritise projects and then Network Rail, TfW and the industry to deliver it all.

It is also overdue. The wheels of change, pardon the pun, have moved slowly. This is something Wales has long needed, and should have been delivered much quicker.

It is true there have been lots of questions about what the UK and Welsh governments have actually delivered, those linked to this deal say this is an example of that but it could all be too late.

There is however, an overriding feeling of cynicism about rail in Wales and serious questions about whether this will, finally, be the plan Wales needs and that is actually delivered.

Whether a potential pending political defeat is what it took to focus minds, we'll likely never know.

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