About 600 staff will be recruited and 450 apprenticeships offered with a new 15-year £5 Billion investment in rail services by Welsh Government.
The Wales and Borders services along with the proposed South Wales Metro regional service will be contracted to KeolisAmey, who run London Docklands and Manchester Metro, in partnership with stand alone not-for-profit company Transport for Wales.
The 15-year contract will run from 4 June, 2018 until 16 October, 2033, with KeolisAmey taking over the Wales and Borders rail service from Arriva Trains Wales on 14 October, 2018.
Newly liveried trains will appear as a joint venture partnership of international public transport operator Keolis with infrastructure asset management specialist Amey, KeolisAmey will work in partnership with Transport for Wales, running all services under the Transport for Wales brand.
Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones and Transport Secretary Ken Skates, will announce the new contract today at a special event in the Railway Training Centre at Coleg y Cymoedd, Nantgarw, accompanied by Keolis President Jean-Pierre Farandou and Amey Chief Executive Officer Andy Milner.
Key points:
- £1.9 billion will be invested in improving passengers’ travel experience, including an £800 million investment in trains, boosting overall service capacity by 65 per cent with increased weekday and Sunday services.
- All trains will be replaced by 2023 when 95 per cent of journeys will be on new trains, half of which will be assembled in Wales.
- £194 million will be invested to modernise all 247 stations and build four new stations: Gabalfa, Crwys Road, Loudoun Square and the Flourish.
- Stations will be powered 100 per cent by renewable energy, at least 50 per cent of which will be sourced in Wales. This is just one of the ways that the new service will contribute to achieving the policy goals of the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.