Revealed, the busiest rail routes across the country

MOST rail passengers complain about the trains on an almost daily basis.

But a survey of the busiest routes north of the Border has revealed some have more right to complain than others.

The Top Ten list by Transport Scotland identified the weekday 5.21pm service between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central as ‘the busiest in Scotland’.

At its peak, the service was recorded as running with 270 passengers, a 46 per cent increase on its expected 185 capacity.

Second was the 5.01pm Glasgow to East Kilbride, which carried 64 extra passengers over its 185 capacity.

In third place was the 8.07am from Neilston, Renfrewshire, to Glasgow Central, which added an extra 93 passengers to its 282 capacity.

The list has been released ahead of a planned £5billion investment by the Scottish Government.

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said: ‘We appreciate busy trains can be uncomfortable and can assure passengers we are

‘Passengers want to see continued investment’

focused on delivering the value for money service they both want and deserve. We will achieve this in the near future.

‘Meanwhile, this information will help with informed journey planning choices.’

A Scot-Rail Alliance spokesman said: ‘This information shows why we are right to be investing so heavily in our largest ever train improvement programme.’

Robert Samson of passenger rights group Transport Focus said: ‘Passengers will welcome Transport Scotland’s new approach to identify busy trains. But they will also want to see continued investment in the rail network that sees more trains arriving on time, improved capacity and fewer cancellations.’

The planned upgrade will see 180 extra carriages being introduced by 2019.