Excitment over proposed new railway station MASSIVE FLOORING

PROPOSALS for a privately-built railway station in the St Mellons area of Cardiff have been met with excitement.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has pledged to work with the team behind the planned Cardiff Parkway, stating: “My department will work with the promoters of the scheme as they develop their plans to the next stage.”

It is hoped the journey time to the city centre could be as little as six minutes.

There are plans for parking for 4,000 cars at a cost of £5 a day.

Cardiff South and Penarth Labour AM Vaughan Gething said: “What’s really impressive about the proposal is it’s got the real backing of business in the area because they can see the opportunity to create jobs around it...

“It should also make it easier to get in and out of Newport, too, so it’s pretty good news and should help us with delivering the Metro.”

Stephen Doughty, the Labour MP for the constituency, said: “It’s fantastic news for St Mellons and the east of Cardiff. This is something that I and local Welsh Labour councillors have campaigned on for some time as it is completely bizarre at the moment that there are no stations between Newport and Cardiff Central, given the huge number of residents and existing businesses.

“However, this new scheme will unlock the potential for thousands of new jobs and hi-tech investment in an already growing part of the city whilst meeting the transport needs of thousands of people in the east of Cardiff and with the potential of extra connectivity both to London and the rest of South Wales.”

Janet Jones, of the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales, said: “A new train station in St Mellons will lead to more development in the area and will feed into the infrastructure supporting the Cardiff City Region Deal.”

Meanwhile, there was frustration and anger in Swansea that the line from Cardiff will not be electrified.

Paul Harding of the campaign group Rail Future Wales described the decision as “hugely disappointing” and said it reflected a “lack of ambition”.

He said: “Electric trains can deliver huge improvements on cost, reliability and performance, and this line needs to be electrified in the longer term.”

Martin Mansfield, general secretary of the Wales TUC, accused the UK Government of “turning its back on the Welsh economy”.

He said: “If work had started at the Swansea end there is no way they’d have turned off the money before electrification had reached Reading.

“Why do UK Ministers think it’s acceptable for Wales to be denied funding and to get a second rate service?”