Spending Review – Investment for Welsh railways falls short

Rail union TSSA has welcomed more funding for railways in Wales announced by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in the Spending Review but believes much more is needed. 

As part of the Spending Review railways in Wales will now get an extra £445m over the next decade – including new funding for five new railway stations between Cardiff Central and Severn Tunnel Junction, Padeswood sidings and Cardiff West junction. However, the union is clear this figure falls well short of what is needed across the country.  

Commenting, TSSA General Secretary, Maryam Eslamdoust, said: “While we welcome any new money for our railways in Wales what the government has announced falls short of what is needed and does not even match funding commitments for English cities like Manchester and London.  

“The figures from the Spending Review fail to tackle years of underinvestment in Wales. We have to be honest and say £445 million over a decade will not get things done in Wales, and we have the same ambition here as the people of Manchester where £2.5 billion has been found. 

“Wales must get its fair share of funding when it comes to rail investment and that means the government must now find the cash for the North Wales Metro and many other projects. Only then will we have the network we need, something which will also greatly contribute to economic growth. 

“Let’s not forget the UK as a whole has seen around £102 billion in rail enhancement investment since 2001. However, funded enhancements in Wales over the same period is only about £2.2 billion, that’s a massive gap.” 

TSSA – At Transport for Wales TSSA has collective bargaining rights for managers – covering Driver Managers, Station Managers, Resource Managers and others in head office and beyond. TSSA has collective bargaining rights for clerical staff, including team organisers, personal assistants, people who work in train planning, social media, finance, HR and other related roles. The union also has collective bargaining rights for all station staff, platform, booking office, and customer service roles.