Work has started to install 200 defibrillators at train stations across Wales and the borders.

Coinciding with ‘Defibruary’, a month-long campaign by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to raise awareness of the importance of defibrillators, the first phase of the programme will see them placed into 53 Transport for Wales (TfW) stations.

The remaining defibrillators will be installed later this spring, and once ready for use they will be uploaded onto the British Heart Foundation’s bespoke portal, called The Circuit, in partnership with St John Ambulance, the Resuscitation Council UK and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.

The Circuit maps defibrillators for NHS ambulance services across the UK so in the crucial moments after a cardiac arrest, they can swiftly direct members of the public to the nearest defibrillator.

Phase two of the scheme will see one defibrillator installed in Machynlleth, another in Aberdyfi, two in Tywyn, two in Porthmadog, and one in Tygwyn train station in Talsarnau.

Karl Gilmore, rail programme director for TfW, said: “All of the defibrillators will be available 24 hours a day but, more crucially, they will all be listed on The Circuit so emergency services staff know where they are located.

“Our staff will be given training on how to use the defibrillators and we’re working with charities and other organisations to make sure we can roll out training into communities.”