Big questions remain about Reeves' £445m rail handout

Welsh railways are to receive a £445m investment, albeit over 10 years, the Chancellor has announced. But there is a difference between the money being assigned to building new stations and the most recent cost estimate, says Political editor Ruth Mosalski

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A FEW hours before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her spending review to MPs in the Commons, details of what she would announce for Welsh rail emerged.

It would be, we heard, a package of almost half a billion pounds for rail infrastructure.

Yet what's now apparent is that there are still a lot of questions remaining to be answered about exactly what the money will be used for and the time period in which it will be spent.

The opposition parties have jumped on the Chancellor's statement during her speech to the Commons that the money will be spent over 10 years.

They claim this means it is far from generous and less than Wales would have received under the Tories.

Yet briefings from Treasury officials and the Wales Office suggests it is more complex than that although there is still a lack of detail about when the money will be spent, what it will be spent on and how much progress will be possible when the sum promised is less than the cost of the big ambitions for rail in Wales.

How long a period is the funding meant to cover?

How generous this £445m really is will depend on how long a period it's meant to cover.

The Chancellor handed her opponents in Wales a stick with which to criticise this when she said the funding was for 10 years.

Her exact words were: "For 14 years, the Conservatives failed the people of Wales. Those days are over.

"Following representations from my right Honourable Friend the Welsh secretary, the First Minister for Wales and Welsh Labour MPs I am pleased to announce £445m for railways in Wales over 10 years including new funding for Padeswood sidings and Cardiff West junction."

The Treasury suggests it isn't this simple, that most of the money will have to be spent in the period of the spending review, which covers four years for infrastructure investment.