Two new trains a day from Swansea will be passing through stations in Llanelli, Kidwelly and Burry Port by the end of the year thanks to a deal negotiated by the Welsh Labour Government, Llanelli’s AM Lee Waters has announced.

Train operator KeolisAmey, who will take over the operation of the service from Arriva in October of this year, will run two new trains a day by the end of 2018 on the Fishguard to Swansea line, brand new carriages within five years and an increase to five trains a day on the Heart of Wales line. Investment will also be ploughed into Llanelli Station, as one of KeolisAmey’s flagship station improvement schemes.

Across Wales, there will be service improvements such as good quality WiFi on trains and stations, an app for people who need extra assistance, and cheaper fares for young people with under 11s being able to travel for free, and half price concessionary fares being extended to 18 year olds.

Lee Waters said: “Overall, I think that’s a really good package. It’s not perfect, and I still think we need to do more - like including buses - but it’s a really good start that the Welsh Labour government has delivered.”

There have been calls for a public sector or ‘nationalised’ Wales and Borders franchise, but the Welsh Government is prevented from doing so by the 1993 Railways Act.

“I would love to see railway under public ownership with the powers for passenger services and infrastructure sustainability and comprehensively devolved to the Welsh Government. But until that’s possible, this deal will deliver very real improvements within the next five years," added Mr Waters.

“On top of a better run rail franchise I want to see extra investment in creating an attractive Metro system for Llanelli and the wider Swansea Bay City region to make it easy for people to leave their car at home to cut congestion and improve air quality”