In addition, the UK government will cover the full costs of electrifying the Great Western mainline to Swansea and will devolve the Wales & Borders rail franchise, so that the Welsh government decides the new franchise in 2018.
In order to make this deal happen, the UK government will take over sponsorship and fund delivery of the Cardiff-Bridgend section of the main line electrification scheme to Swansea – worth £105m, and contribute £125m towards the costs of the wider Valley Lines electrification scheme.
Prime minister David Cameron said: “I am delighted to announce today that we are going to press ahead with the electrification of the Valley Lines. After years of neglect, this part of Wales will finally get the infrastructure it needs with faster, more modern, more efficient trains and the impact will be huge.”
Journey times from both Merthyr Tydfil and Treherbert to Cardiff would be reduced to a little over 50 minutes.
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