OUR hopes that ScotRail services would improve once run by the slick Dutch railways have proved forlorn.

No wonder everyone is complaining; they’ve managed the astonishing feat of being worse than First; not just overcrowded and unpredictable, they persist in bad habits like turning trains short at Drem.

If ScotRail had any business sense, they would not neglect our line. They would invest heavily in it.

In the last decade, the only investment has made the service worse. While the old four-car slam door Class 305s carried 400 passengers, their Class 322 replacements managed 360. Now the current Class 380s offer just 276 seats.

So in 10 years, we have 32 per cent less capacity. No wonder we have overcrowding.

Worse, in the last 20 years, considerable investment has been poured into ScotRail elsewhere. None came our way. Yet our line has shown better growth than any other, as evidenced by the ORR station statistics below:

  • Musselburgh: 1995 usage 166,139; 2005 usage 193,386; 2015 usage 478,100; increase over 20 years 187.77 per cent.
  • Wallyford: 1995 57,846; 2005 126,719; 2015 311,890; increase 439.17 per cent.
  • Prestonpans: 1995 71,353; 2005 129,192; 2015 274,344; increase 284.49 per cent.
  • Longniddry: 1995 116,345; 2005 135,040; 2015 193,626; increase 66.42 per cent.
  • Drem: 1995 59,318; 2005 80,563; 2015 164,154; increase 176.74 per cent.
  • North Berwick: 1995 262,802; 2005 379,898; 2015 571,702; increase 117.54 per cent.
  • Dunblane: 1995 307,650; 2005 457,751; 2015 539,412; increase 75.33 per cent.
  • Kirkcaldy: 1995 647,450; 2005 1,071,969; 2015 1,157,650; increase 78.80 per cent.
  • Bathgate: 1995 420,835; 2005 645,430; 2015 1,223,126; increase 190.64 per cent.

The growth at Bathgate is explained by the massive investment that extended the line to Airdrie and beyond. Dunblane and Kirkcaldy are more typical of a general growth in ridership.

Yet with no investment and a 32 per cent cut in train capacity, our line’s growth has made it a real money-spinner. This is because, unlike other lines, we have counter-flow to the commuters; students to QMU and tourists to North Berwick fill otherwise empty trains at no extra cost.

Verster and his management at ScotRail need to wake up and earn their fat salaries by developing this lucrative but underrated line. They could start by shunting a couple of six-car trains our way without waiting another year to show they’ve finally twigged the potential of this little gem of a service.