Edinburgh Glasgow trips to be cut to 42 minutes

Rail bosses still aim to cut journey times on the Edinburgh to Glasgow service to 42 minutes by the end of next year, despite previous delays and “issues” with the new electric trains.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf said partners involved in the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) wanted to achieve the target by December 2018.

But he told MSPS that Hitachi, which is producing the new Class 385 trains, was having “some issues” with delivering them, while there had been “well documented” holdups in work to electrify the route.

EGIP was originally costed at £742 million, with the first electric trains expected to come into service in 2016.

But Mr Yousaf said it would now be December before some electric trains are running on the route.