SCOTRAIL says it is "window-shopping" after putting out a tender for the supply of four daily train services between Fife and Edinburgh.

A Future Contract Opportunity was posted through Public Contracts Scotland seeking "expressions of interest" from suppliers to provide two morning and two evening peak services on weekdays from December this year until December 2021with an option to extend annually until 2024.

Requirements for interested parties are that each service would consist of a minimum of 370 standard class seats and have a minimum of three toilets. Loco, coaches, driver and maintenance would all have to be included while ScotRail would provide a conductor.

A ScotRail spokesperson said they were currently trying to consider options for the local services.

"The public notice is basically what we are doing is window-shopping," he said. "The two services that it refers to, at the moment are run by the local haul services so our lease for these local haul trains expires at the end of the year. We are looking to see if there is anything better out there or better value.

"We want to build the best possible service to customers. It may be that we extend that contract if nothing else is out there. We put out the tender to see what else is out there.

"The services will still run regardless come the end of December."

This tender would mean no brand new trains heading to Fife and the spokesperson confirmed they were not planned for the four services.

"These services would not be operated by the intercity trains," he added. "These are the local ones. The 170 trains which are getting cascaded through Fife, it could be one of these or it could be something different.

"Up until December they will remain the same. The current contract is up until the end of the year."