WEST Fife commuters are being treated like "second-class citizens" when it comes to train travel in the Kingdom.

That's the view of Liberal Democrat councillors James Calder and Aude Boubaker-Calder who have called on Scotrail to take action to improve services in Fife.

They said over the past week, many peak-time trains on the Fife Circle have been reduced to just two carriages which has led to some passengers being unable to get on board.

"Almost two years ago when the Scottish Government committed to the nationalising ScotRail, they said the future service would be 'customer-focused'," they said.

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"That is not the experience for West Fife passengers right now, and during rush hour services many of the trains are running with just two carriages with people being packed like sardines in it. These services normally had more carriages before.

"It is not right that West Fife passengers are bearing the brunt of Scottish Government's failures to improve ScotRail and being treated as Second-Class Citizens.

"We have written to ScotRail to ask why this situation is occurring and what they are going to do to sort it out.

"It is important it is resolved as we need improved, not neglected, public transport locally."

ScotRail say some services in Fife have operated with less carriages because of reliability issues in their fleet.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail's Customer Operations Director, said: "We know that one of the biggest concerns for our customers is lack of capacity on some trains, and we are sorry to any customers who experience overcrowding on their journey.

“Fife in particular is an area where we are doing everything we can to make improvements, and to ensure that we deliver the service that customers expect and deserve.”

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This week, Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley questioned ScotRail's decision to raise fares by almost nine per cent after it published its latest accounts.

The figures showed a 42 per cent increase in revenue and a 36 per cent increase in journeys from the year before.

“I am concerned at the Scottish Government’s confused and contradictory approach to public transport at the moment when it has never been more important that people across Scotland have access to affordable and viable public transport options.

“We need to encourage people out of cars and on to public transport to meet our climate goals and we are facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.

“I absolutely welcomed the Scottish Government’s decision to pilot the trade union proposed peak fare suspension but the decision to hike fares by an eyewatering 8.7 per cent seems to be directly opposed to the principles the Scottish Government’s acceptance of this pilot appeared to suggest.

“If we are to encourage people to continue using rail for their daily commutes, the Scottish Government must commit to the permanent ending of peak fares, which only serve as a tax on workers opting for greener travel options, and to ensuring that all transport policy decisions work towards making public transport accessible, viable, and affordable."

Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop had previously confirmed that ScotRail fares would increase by 8.7 per cent in April.

“We know that any increase is unwelcome for passengers, therefore we have kept the rise as low as possible to maintain the attractiveness and affordability of rail as a travel option," she said.

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“We continue to look at ways to encourage greater rail use and that is why we are extending our peak fares pilot for a further three months until June 2024.

“Fares and fare increases remain, on average, lower than across the rest of Great Britain.

“ScotRail also continue to develop fares initiatives which can help attract more passengers, while offering savings and added value to existing rail users."