SCOTRAIL has secured an extra ten electric trains to boost the number of seats available for customers on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route.

The modern class 365 electric vehicles will provide an additional 17,200 seats a day for customers travelling between Scotland’s two largest cities via Falkirk High.

The first of the trains will enter passenger service in the coming weeks. The trains are a temporary hire as ScotRail delivers brand new electric class 385 trains from Hitachi in the coming months.

Alex Hynes, ScotRail Alliance managing director, said: “This is great news for our customers travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

“Securing these extra trains has been made possible thanks to a lot of our people across the ScotRail Alliance working flat out in recent weeks.

“The coming months will see a transformation in Scotland’s railway, and we can’t wait for customers to feel the benefits. It’s all part of our plan to build the best railway Scotland has ever had.”

Humza Yousaf, Transport Minister, added: “This is the fruition of ScotRail working together with Eversholt Rail to finalise this lease for a number of class 365s. The 17,200 extra seats each day, around 800 an hour, ensures a capacity boost between Edinburgh and Glasgow to support our major events in Scotland this summer.

“The recent arrival of the first four class 365 trains in Scotland is welcome news, enabling staff training to progress more quickly as well as providing more work at Springburn to prepare the fleet.

“We thank passengers for their patience on those routes particularly impacted by capacity issues and assure them these class 365 trains will help alleviate this issue.”