RAIL services to two East Ayrshire villages will be boosted by more than 50% following a campaign by the communities.

RAIL services to two East Ayrshire villages will be boosted by more than 50% following a campaign by the communities.

Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said the number of trains serving Kilmaurs and Dunlop would increase from the current 36 a day to 57 when the new services are introduced in December.

Transport Scotland, the transport agency, had originally proposed the villages would receive only an hourly service off-peak following a £28.5million track upgrade on the Glasgow-Kilmarnock line.

However, this will now become a half-hourly service from December.

Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, described the increase in services as "tremendous".

The decision follows a vigorous campaign by the people living in the two villages.

In May a petition signed by 1000 people in Dunlop and Kilmaurs was handed to Transport Scotland complaining about the number of trains serving them.

And during the consultation process, bosses at Transport Scotland were accused of using unfounded and misleading claims to justify a decision to reduce the frequency of services to the two villages following the track upgrade.

Official explanations given by the government agency over the timetable for the Glasgow-Kilmarnock line provoked an extraordinary snub from Network Rail, the company in charge of the UK's rail infrastructure.

Earlier this year officials from Transport Scotland told two public meetings that problems with congestion at Muirhouse Junction, a busy intersection on the route, would make it difficult to provide a half-hourly service to Kilmaurs and Dunlop during off-peak periods.

But in a letter to East Ayrshire councillor John McGhee, Network Rail public affairs manager Dave Boyce said he was "surprised" at Transport Scotland's explanation.

He claimed that previous modelling work had established the junction would be able to support half-hourly stops, despite a "slight worsening in train performance".

Meanwhile, complaints from passengers on Virgin Trains between London and Scotland have soared as the line experienced continuing difficulties following a £9billion upgrade.

The company was hit by a 52% rise in complaints in the last financial year and registered more than twice the level of grievances than any other train operator, said the Office of Rail Regulation.