Leaders reveal vision for West of England rail network

It currently takes about 50 minutes to travel from Bristol to Cardiff by train

A new vision for rail travel in the West of England shows how the area could nearly halve journey times between major cities and rural spots.

Political leaders from across the region and South Wales have set out their vision for how the area's train services should look by 2050.

Trains journeys from Bristol to London could take an hour, and Bristol to Cardiff, only 30 minutes, they claimed.

Plans would cost £7-8bn and would require investment from the government.

Currently the area lags behind other parts of the UK with slower train times.

Led by the Western Gateway Partnership, in collaboration with Transport for Wales, the new vision shows drastically improved journeys inside the area, as well as to London and elsewhere in the UK.

Cardiff in particular has been identified by the government as being the "least well directly connected major city" in the UK.

The vision promotes increasing capacity to allow up to four trains per hour between Bristol and Cardiff, reducing journey times between the cities from 50 to 30 minutes.

The improvements could benefit rural communities as well as major cities

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol and Western Gateway board member, said: "Better public transport between major cities like Bristol and Cardiff is essential to decarbonise and grow our economy.

"With over 80,000 car journeys taking place over the M4 Prince Of Wales Bridge every day, and predictions that this will increase, we desperately need long term solutions."

Plans also suggests journey times between Swansea and Bristol could be dramatically reduced from an hour and a half, once an hour, to 60 minutes with three trains per hour.

Councillor Toby Savage, leader of South Gloucestershire Council, said: "We believe it is time that the government acknowledged that our area should be next in line for investment to unlock our potential."

The Western Gateway is made up of local authorities, businesses and universities from across the South West and South Wales.