A RUSH-HOUR train from West Fife to Edinburgh is late on average three days a week for commuters.

A snapshot of the 0757 from Dunfermline Town to Waverly has shown that rail passengers arrived in the capital seven to 10 minutes late most days according to data collected by the Press from the last month.

A catalogue of its performance revealed that on January 17, 16 and 13 the service was delayed by seven minutes.

The week before, on January 9, 8 and 7, trains were delayed between seven and 10 minutes.

We've missed out the week of Christmas as bank holidays changed normal service but the 0757 was cancelled on December 23.

While the week before, ScotRail were up to their old tricks when services on December 20, 19 and 16 were seven to 18 minutes delayed.

The Press has been calling for improvements to rail services on the Fife Circle since we launched our Crush Hour campaign in 2017.

The figures follow the news that passenger numbers using trains in West Fife have dropped significantly (see page 23).

A snapshot of another popular commuter train – the 0816 from Dalgety Bay – shows that the service is delayed most days.

ScotRail came up with a list of excuses for the delays – including vandalism to railway equipment, signalling faults, congestion on the network, and knock-on delays from disruption elsewhere on the network.

A ScotRail spokesperson said: "We're sorry to customers in Fife who have experienced disruption to their journey in recent weeks.

"If anyone has been delayed by 30 minutes or more, they can claim money back through our Delay Repay Guarantee on our website or mobile app."