New rail projects for Wales worth £445m were announced by the Labour Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in her spending review on Wednesday.
The Treasury backed plans for five new stations in Cardiff, Newport and Monmouthshire, as well as upgrades in north Wales, with £348m to be spent between 2026 and 2030.
The rest of the cash will be spent over ten years. The announcement follows years of complaints from Welsh Labour of underinvestment in the Welsh railway network.
The chancellor told the Commons the whole funding package was over ten years – forcing Labour sources and a UK government minister to clarify that most of the cash would be spent much sooner than that.
Opposition politicians in the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats were scathing of the overall 10-year timeline, with a Tory spokesperson calling it a "disgrace".
Experts at Cardiff University said the announcements felt "underwhelming" after the Welsh government "apparently expended significant political capital in pushing the case".
The UK government said the package had "the potential to be truly transformative".
The spending review set out Reeves' plans for how public services will be funded for years to come.
It said the Welsh government, which spends cash on the NHS, schools and local government, will receive an additional £1.6bn each year on average.
The announcement follows weeks of rows between Welsh and Westminster Labour, as concerns grew over the next Senedd election with polling suggesting the party could lose its dominant role in Welsh politics.
