Welsh Government says Budget delivered 3% of its £1bn rail request

The Welsh Government has said the UK Budget of 28 October 2026 delivered only 3% of the £1bn it had asked for from a £14bn rail commitment, and that UK Government promises on Welsh rail had been delayed again.

In a release issued on 29 October, the Welsh Government said the UK Government's pledges to put right what it described as decades of rail underfunding had been pushed back further.

"This figure is an insult to the people of Wales," Deputy Minister for Transport Mark Hooper said. He added that the UK Government's failure to invest in its network in Wales showed the need for rail devolution.

The Welsh Government's release did not name the scheme covered by the 3%. The UK Government's own Budget 2026 release for Wales, published by the Wales Office and HM Treasury on 28 October, said £30m would fund the next stage of Cardiff Parkway railway station, which it said would drive growth along the M4 corridor. The same release said the Welsh Government would receive an additional £450m for public services.

The £14bn commitment

The two governments describe the February commitment differently. The Welsh Government said the UK Government committed to deliver the money in February. The UK Government's announcement of 17 February 2026, in which the Prime Minister set out seven new stations and a rail funding commitment, said Transport for Wales (TfW) currently estimated the total cost of all schemes under consideration at up to £14bn, with exact additional UK Government funding allocations to be confirmed at future Spending Reviews.

That announcement listed stations at Magor and Undy, Llanwern, Cardiff East, Newport West, Somerton, Cardiff Parkway and Deeside industrial park. It said the 2025 Spending Review settlement included £90m for the five Burns stations over four years, that work on all five would start in 2026 with Magor and Undy expected to be the first completed, and that construction of two was expected to begin by 2029.

The UK Government said in February that Cardiff Parkway would serve an estimated 800,000 passengers a year. It also said the Wales Rail Board, with Welsh and UK Government, TfW and Network Rail membership, would oversee delivery of the pipeline.

The Chancellor had earlier announced at least £445m of Welsh rail investment at the Spending Review on 11 June 2025. The First Minister's written statement on TfW's vision document, Today, Tomorrow, Together: A vision for rail across Wales and Borders, described it as a £14bn package of generational schemes building on that £445m commitment.

Shovel ready

Hooper said it was wrong to say the stations were not shovel ready. He said the Welsh Government had agreed with Network Rail since February that TfW would deliver the stations, and that TfW was ready to start work. He said he had made this point to the rail minister when the two met on 29 October.

The Welsh Government said Network Rail and TfW had already agreed to work together to deliver the Burns stations, and that schemes ready to go in Wales also included Cardiff Parkway and further enhancements to the Core Valley Lines.

According to TfW, the Burns Delivery Unit was set up in January 2021 to speed up implementation of the 58 recommendations of Lord Burns's South East Wales Transport Commission, with the aim of providing alternatives to journeys on the M4. Its delivery board includes the Welsh Government, TfW, Network Rail and Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire councils.

Funding share

The Welsh Government said that although Wales makes up 10% of the Great Britain rail network, just 1% of Network Rail's spending goes to Wales. In its 27 September 2026 release asking the Chancellor to bring forward £1bn of the £14bn commitment, it described the same 1% as a share of Network Rail spending across England and Wales. In that release, Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones said Wales had waited long enough and the Budget was the UK Government's chance to deliver.

Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Kinnock, in the UK Government's Budget release, said: "This UK government has already committed generational investment across Wales – from new nuclear, to defence and rail".

Hooper said the Welsh Government would continue to press for fairer rail funding and a clear pathway to full rail devolution. Under the UK Government's February timetable, construction of two of the five Burns stations is expected to begin by 2029.