CONFIRMATION the UK Government will provide funds for five new railway stations around Newport has prompted calls for Magor to be at the front of the queue.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced nearly half a billion pounds will be made available, over 10 years, for rail improvements in Wales as part of the UK Government’s spending review.
Labour has said that will allow the Welsh Government to put forward detailed plans for five new stations in South East Wales at Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Llanwern, and Magor and Undy.
The Magor and Undy station was first proposed by local campaigners, in 2013, as a “walkway station” intended to be easily accessible to local commuters on foot and to take the strain off the congested M4 around Newport.
The idea was later incorporated into the Burn Commission which proposed the five new stations when it was tasked with finding alternatives to take the strain off the motorway when a relief road was ruled out in 2019.
Retired railway man Ted Hand, one of the founders of the Magor Action Group on Rail, or MAGOR, that proposed and campaigned for new station has welcomed the funding announcement.
But he said decision makers still need to be persuaded to give the Magor station, which he said could be delivered before any of the others, priority status.
He said: “It’s very good news. It’s capital expenditure committed now it is a matter that the battle is perhaps won now we need get on with the war and get Magor done to use Boris Johnson’s expression.”
Mr Hand said Magor has the rail tracks and space required which could allow a simple station to be put in place at speed. He said the Burns Commission had acknowledged this but had drawn up it own “more grandiose” designs.
“Magor could be started tomorrow as it’s not dependent on upgrading the relief line,” said Mr Hand: “The spades could go in the ground tomorrow.
“It is very, very welcome capital expenditure is committed they now need to deliver and obviously we want to see Magor done first as it is the easiest to do.”
The announcement has also been welcomed across the political divide.
Labour’s John Griffiths, Member of Senedd for Newport East, said: “I have heard from constituents again and again that new train stations are needed along the M4 corridor.
“I welcome the news that the Welsh Labour Government, working with the UK Government, will now put forward detailed plans for not one, but two new stations in Newport East, and another one in Magor and Undy.”
Laura Anne Jones Conservative MS for South Wales East said: “The confirmation of a new station for Magor represents a hard fought victory for the tireless campaigners who have worked incredible hard for many years.”
She added: “It is clear that this new station will be transformative for Monmouthshire and the wider South East Wales region.”
In the Commons Ms Reeves said the £445 investment in railways was for schemes including the “Cardiff West junction”.
