PLANS to bring the Ebbw Valley line to Newport would still need more funding despite an announcement that it will be electrified.

This week Justine Greening, transport secretary of state, announced that work to electrify the Ebbw Valley line is to be part of a £4.2 billion scheme of railway investments.

But renewed calls were made for the Newport-Ebbw Vale link to become a reality after it emerged the plan would only see the electrification of the existing line.

The Argus has campaigned for a permanent passenger rail-link between Newport and Ebbw Vale for more than a decade.

Dylan Brown of Network Rail told the Argus that the line would be electrified from Ebbw Vale to Gaer Junction, in Newport.

But he said the project to run half hourly services on the line, which would allow additional services to Newport as well as Cardiff was not funded.

He said services to Newport were tied up with the Welsh Government's enhancement scheme.

A 12-month trial bus service is currently running between Rogerstone and Newport to assess the demand for such a scheme, with officials due to review it following the first six months of use.

Newport West MP Paul Flynn said a reply by Ms Greening in the House of Commons chamber to a question on whether the electrification would bring trains to Newport - which she didn't clarify - was "incompetent" at best.

He said there was a natural connection between Newport and the Gwent Valleys: "There's no point in sending people in a faster way to the wrong direction, which in our case would be Cardiff."

Newport Councillor Ed Townsend, a former cabinet member and deputy leader of Newport Council , said the announcement of the electrification of the Valleys lines was good news for the whole city region.

But he said people along the route needed the opportunity to take up jobs in Newport.

He said: "The Welsh Government have got to take the bold step of putting the line in between Newport and Ebbw Vale."