Millions of rail funding 'not enough to make up for under-investment'

THE UK Government's announcement that £445m of funding will come to Wales is “underwhelming” and not enough to make up for years of under-funding, experts have said.

- RUTH MOSALSKI

Chancellor Rachel Reeves made her long-awaited spending review statement in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

As part of it, she declared: "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 paperwork associated with the statement said that would mean “£300m for rail investment in Wales, including for the Burns Review stations, North Wales Level Crossing, Padeswood Sidings and Cardiff West junction.”

However, it led to confusion, because the UK Government then sought to row back on the Chancellor's words, saying the funding wasn’t over 10 years at all.

If the money were for over a decade-long period, it would be considerably less good news for Wales than Labour had been briefing, especially given the historic underfunding for rail Wales has had.

The Treasury and Wales Office explained to journalists in a subsequent briefing that the money was split into different parts; £300m will be spent by the UK Government on heavy rail - things like the new stations and sidings mentioned above and rail improvements.

The Welsh Government will get £48m for the Core Valley Lines and the remaining £97m would be for developing future schemes.

They explained thaty while the “bulk” of the total sum would be spent in this next three-year period, only the £97m development funding would be for a longer period of 10 years because it covers the upcoming spending review, and the next from 2030.