Newtown among 15 rail stations to benefit from millions in improvement money

Network Rail in Wales and Borders is set to benefit from a UK Government grant to provide a safer and more reliable railway for passengers and freight customers.

As part of the funding, a list of 15 stations has been compiled to get a share of a section of £300 million of funding, planned to run from 2019 to 2024.

On the list is Newtown station, which could be in line for improved access.

Transport secretary Ken Skates has endorsed a nomination to the UK Government’s Access for All for improvements to 15 stations across Wales.

He said: “Improving accessibility for passengers is a key priority for me.

"An unacceptable number of our stations are wholly or partly inaccessible and this provides an opportunity to address some of those issues in Wales.

“Although rail infrastructure is non-devolved and the responsibility of the UK Government, our Wales and Border rail service contract includes a £15m investment by Transport for Wales towards station accessibility improvements.

“We have worked with TfW to allocate £10m of this to match-fund the Wales and Borders station nominations to the UK Government’s Access for All funding.

“My ambition is to improve accessibility at all stations, based on an assessment of need, and to ensure a fair distribution of investment in step-free access across each region of Wales.”

In total £2 billion will be spent on a range of infrastructure in Wales, which is a 28 per cent increase on the last five year funding period.

Bill Kelly, route managing director for Network Rail Wales and Borders, added: “This is fantastic news for Wales and Borders at a time when we are seeing unprecedented levels of investment in the railway.

“We’ve put passengers and our freight customers first in developing our five-year plan, which will make the railway safer and more reliable for the thousands of customers who use it every day."