SCOTLAND'S Transport Minister has been accused of "abject failure" after he ignored the issues on East Lothian's rail services during a statement to the Scottish Parliament.

East Lothian MSP Iain Gray said he was livid after the minister, Humza Yousaf MSP, announced plans to help rail services in the Borders, while ignoring the North Berwick line.

There are frequent problems of overcrowding on the line, to the extent that commuters at Musselburgh are regularly unable to board peak-time trains to Edinburgh because they are too full.

READ MORE: Deja vu for frustrated commuters as they're yet again left stranded by overcrowded train

Mr Gray said he had now written to Mr Yousaf demanding to know why East Lothian was "at the back of the queue" when it comes to investment.

He said: "Not a week goes by without constituents complaining to me of being left standing on the platform as trains arrive too full to board.

"Those lucky enough to get on at all find themselves packed in like sardines.

"If the train is on time, commuters still end up late for work as they queue for a ticket at Waverley.

“Repeated complaints to ScotRail are met with promises of six-carriage trains by 2018, depending on new trains arriving for the Edinburgh/Glasgow route.

“The transport minister has been under enormous pressure in Parliament, so I eagerly awaited his statement in the hope that he would have something to say about improving our services.

“I could hardly believe my ears when the minister not only failed to mention services on the North Berwick line, but also went on to describe the action he is taking to address overcrowding on the Borders Railway.

“I have no problem with him trying to tackle problems in the Borders or elsewhere, but I do have a very big problem with the abject failure to deal with the issues experienced on a daily basis by my constituents here in East Lothian.

“It seems passengers here are simply being ignored by ministers. Leaving our rail services at the back of the queue like this is unbelievable. It’s yet another example of the Scottish Government failing to deliver for East Lothian.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said that Mr Yousaf would respond to Mr Gray's letter.

He added: "We are keen to work with East Lothian stakeholders to deliver rail infrastructure that meet the needs of their local communities and work is already under way to address the issues raised by Mr Gray.

“We are investing £475m in train improvements: more trains, more seats and more services across Scotland.

"As part of those plans, new longer, greener and quicker Class 385 trains will serve communities in East Lothian by early 2018. From now until then, ScotRail are committed to ensuring they lay on as much capacity as possible from their current rolling stock to meet passenger demand.

“The minister has also recently offered two potential funding solutions which will allow construction of a new station at East Linton station to move forward, one of which includes an unprecedented offer of 60 per cent funding towards the new station from the Scottish Government.”

Complaints about a lack of capacity on the North Berwick line have been ongoing for over a year.

Commuters were recently left furious by a change to a colour-coded timetable at Musselburgh Railway Station which is designed to tell commuters how busy peak-time trains are likely to be.

The sign was recently updated to suggest that all peak-time trains were likely to have "many seats available", much to commuters' disbelief.

Since the sign was updated, there have been occasions when commuters have been left stranded on the platform by overcrowded trains.