Plans for a £10bn investment in regional rail services could be a huge boost to the economy.

That's according to Western Gateway - the partnership which supports the economy stretching from Swindon in the east, through Gloucestershire and South Wales, as far as St David's.

The region has a population of five million people and an economy of £130bn - on a par with Estonia.

John Wilkinson, director of Western Gateway, told Punchline-Gloucester.com: "We think there's a really significant opportunity to join up the rail network in Western Gateway far more effectively than it is at the moment.

"We've been working over the last couple of years to develop a rail vision for 2050, which is about how do you get between our core areas more quickly, so we've created an idealised vision of what that could look like.

"We're now costing it up and we're taking it to Government to say 'we think for £10bn you can get phenomenal productivity gains'. We could connect up our area far more effectively than we're able to do at the moment."

The plans will be launched in Parliament later this year, and at Western Gateway's convention in Newport in July.

John Wilkinson added: "We hope it will be gathering of around 750 people to show to the UK and Welsh Governments what great opportunities there are and how we're working in partnership to deliver them."