SCOTRAIL has come under fire for making changes to early morning commuter trains that leave Aberdour and Dalgety Bay in the lurch.

Cowdenbeath MSP Annabelle Ewing says timetable changes brought in today (Monday)will affect the daily commute of many of her constituents.

As of today, the train for Edinburgh that leaves Glenrothes with Thornton at 0718 will no longer stop at Kinghorn, Aberdour or Dalgety Bay.

Ms Ewing had criticised the train company for not publicising the change properly but ScotRail hit back telling the Press that they have communicated extensively with customers about the changes.

The MSP said: "Scotrail are advising that any passengers travelling between those stations and Edinburgh Gateway, Haymarket or Waverley will have another service within 30 minutes and that those heading for South Gyle will need to travel into Haymarket to get a connecting train.

"I have a number of issues with this. Firstly, the change itself will be a significant inconvenience to many of my constituents who will see their daily commute severely disrupted, and, secondly, because of the poor publicity and lack of notice for this change.

"The first communication I had from Scotrail about it had the timetable change information buried at the foot of an email about how they would be dealing with the autumnal build-up of leaves on the line.

"Yes, leaves on the line, that old chestnut!

"Constituents have been left to pick up information on various local grapevines, there appears to have been very little publicity and no consultation in advance of this change. "Online searches still lead one to pre-change timetables that claim to be valid until December.

"Scotrail’s treatment of passengers on the Fife circle routes is continuing to fall well below what I consider acceptable.

"They keep telling us that the service will get better but this latest change is another retrograde step and I want to see these stops reinstated.”

A ScotRail spokesperson said: “The minor changes we are making to some services will ensure a more stable and robust service during the challenging Autumn period, and we encourage all customers to check and see if there is any change to the services they use.”