NEW train services have started running on Sundays from Severn Tunnel Junction to Newport and Cardiff.

The new services will depart at 9:08, 10:08 and 11:11 on Sunday mornings, arriving in Cardiff at 9:41; 10:41 and 11:44am. Previously no train arrived in Cardiff before noon.

The new service results from appeals by both Newport East MP, Jessica Morden, and Monmouthshire County Officials Councillors Bryan Jones and David Dovey. They were supported by local rail groups from Magor and Severn Tunnel Junction.

Commenting on the additional trains Monmouthshire County Council's cabinet member for county operations, Cllr Bryan Jones, said he welcomed this improvement in the timetable, believing it will inevitably benefit hundreds of people in the Magor, Caldicot and Chepstow area.

Cllr Jones also paid tribute to the work done by local transport lobby groups at Magor and Severn Tunnel Junction in pushing for this improvement.

STAG (the Severn Tunnel Action Group) Chairman, David Flint, thanked all the politicians for their support in this matter.

He went on to tell of the steady growth in the use of all local rail stations in South East Monmouthshire.

Figures from the Office of Rail Regulation show an eighty per cent increase in passengers at the station in the last eight years.