SCOTLAND is to get a £180million fleet of new hi-tech trains - and most will operate in and out of Glasgow.

SCOTLAND is to get a £180million fleet of new hi-tech trains - and most will operate in and out of Glasgow.

Transport chiefs will also create 134 jobs by spending another £50m on longer platforms and building a new maintenance depot in the city's South Side.

They are to buy 38 locomotives and 130 carriages that will provide extra seating for 9000 passengers.

The fleet will be used on the Glasgow-Edinburgh service and Glasgow-Inverclyde and Ayrshire.

Several of the new trains will provide passenger services on the planned Glasgow Airport Rail Link.

The fleet will be fully air-conditioned and carriages will also be fitted with CCTV, as well as power sockets for laptops.

They will be more spacious, with easy access for the disabled and provision for cycles and luggage.

The new rolling stock will be phased in over three years, but will begin running at stations from December 2010.

Longer platforms will be constructed at stations in Ayrshire and Inverclyde, while a hi-tech repair and maintenance depot will be built in Glasgow's Shields Road to replace an existing facility.

As well as the 134 extra jobs needed to maintain and operate Scotland's expanded fleet, additional drivers are to be recruited, along with cleaners who will be based at a depot in Yoker.

The investment comes amid predictions passengers numbers will rise significantly over the next 10 years.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "It is really encouraging to see passenger numbers on our rail network increasing, but if we want that to continue, and if we want to encourage more Scots to switch from their cars to public transport, we need to continue to invest in our rail network."

"Tens of thousands of commuters across west Scotland will experience the benefits of this investment, as will leisure travellers, across a wide area from Gourock to Glasgow to Ayr."

First ScotRail is to lease the new fleet by signing a 17-year agreement.

Its managing director Mary Grant said: "This is the biggest electric trains order in Scotland for a decade."

Trains currently being used in Inverclyde and Ayrshire will be switched to the £300million Airdrie-Bathgate line, which is also due to begin operating in December, 2010.

About two-thirds of Scotland's train journeys take place in Glasgow and surrounding area.