To ask the Scottish Government when it estimates that ScotRail will end the use of short-formed trains that run on rail services between Fife and Edinburgh. (S6O-04209)

ScotRail has taken a number of steps to improve the service for rail passengers travelling to and from Fife. Diesel trains newly released from some of the intercity routes are now serving Fife, thereby increasing fleet resilience, and additional stops will continue to be made at Dalmeny and Burntisland to reduce pressure on the busy morning and evening Leven services.

I acknowledge that there was a challenging autumn, with disruptions being significantly higher than they were in the previous year. Despite that, ScotRail achieved a strong recovery, and available seat capacity for Fife during the four weeks covering the festive period was 92.9 per cent, which was higher than the 90.3 per cent that was recorded in the same period the previous year.

We want that recovery in performance to continue and I have asked for close monitoring of the Fife service in order to continue to improve capacity where possible and to end the use of short-formed trains.

As the cabinet secretary knows, I have been raising that issue for years and have been promised for years that it is going to get better, but it does not. Even in the past few weeks, two-carriage trains have pulled into Inverkeithing station already packed, with passengers standing. Those trains are therefore not able to take on any more passengers and people who are waiting to get to Edinburgh are left stranded on the platform and are late for work. That happens time and again, so can we please have a timescale for bringing the practice to an end?

I appreciate the concerns that are being raised. The Deputy Presiding Officer frequently raises those concerns in her correspondence to me. I absolutely sympathise with the situation, which is not acceptable for passengers. I remember regularly being on short-formed trains prior to electrification of the Glasgow-Edinburgh line. However, the timescale will depend on fleet replacement. I will, of course, update members from Fife, and members more widely, when that occurs.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that ScotRail must retain the operational independence that is necessary for it when responding to emerging situations, such as in relation to the availability of drivers and trains, and keeping trains running? Can she set out the importance of links between Fife and Edinburgh and how the Scottish National Party Government is committed to maintaining and improving them?

ScotRail, as the train operator, has the necessary level of expertise to allocate its resources to meet passenger demand as suits it best. The link between Edinburgh and Fife is very important, particularly for Fife passengers commuting or travelling for education or leisure.

Electrification work that is under way between Edinburgh and Dalmeny is the first step towards electrification of the Fife route. A rolling programme of decarbonisation and new-fleet procurement strategies will reduce the need for diesel trains across the network, and will bring in new trains with improved reliability. In addition, we are investing £35 million in a new feeder station at Thornton in Fife to facilitate the future electrification of Fife services.

In November, the cabinet secretary said in a letter that she had made it clear to ScotRail that the situation in Fife must improve as quickly as possible, but figures from ScotRail show that, in November, the 07:16 service from Perth to Edinburgh was short-formed on more than half of its timetabled journeys, which left passengers unable to board. The use of short-formed services is not reflected within the public performance measure, so do the Scottish Government and ScotRail take those services into account when assessing and improving service delivery for passengers?

I am clear that improvement is needed. It is an issue that I constantly raise with ScotRail. I have asked for regular reports on the number of trains that are booked and on seat availability, and I have received them. That is why I can relay that there have been improvements in seat-availability performance, particularly over the past four weeks. However, I acknowledged in my first answer the situation in November. As I said, there were significant disruptions, during the period, due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure.