NEARLY two thirds of the trains that stopped at Dunfermline City railway station over the past year were late, according to fresh figures.

Data released by Ontimetrains revealed that 61 per cent of services were either delayed or cancelled, with just 39 per cent running to schedule.

Most of the trains calling at the station were either one or two minutes late, others were up to 10 minutes and more while one per cent were cancelled entirely.

The figures were gathered over the last 12 months and there was trouble on the track for Rosyth passengers too, with 70 per cent of services running late.

But the worst performing station in West Fife was Inverkeithing, a main hub on the Fife Circle with more than 2,100 passengers a day, with Ontimetrains ranking it 1,626th in the country out of a possible 2,628.

It said 58 per cent of services calling there were late with two per cent found to be running up to 10 minutes late.

At North Queensferry, 64 per cent of trains did not run on time, it was 60 per cent at Dalgety Bay and 67 per cent at Aberdour. 

Dunfermline Queen Margaret was the best performing station in the area, ranking as the 957th best station in the UK, with 54 per cent of stopping trains running late.

ScotRail have recently identified Fife as a key area for improvement, launching a new timetable on their website to delivery much needed improvements in the rail service.

This new timetable was brought in on Sunday and promised an extra 3,000 seats per day on services in and out of the Kingdom.  

The rail operator also held a public consultation to identify the biggest issues for train users in Dunfermline and West Fife, using this to help better inform changes they made.

Mark Ilderton, service delivery director at ScotRail, said: “We recently initiated a performance drive across Fife to focus on improving the service in the region and while there is still much to do, we are making progress.

“Customers in Fife are now experiencing a punctuality and reliability of service which is comparable to that experienced by the rest of ScotRail customers.

“The new timetable we have introduced delivers even more improvements and we look forward to delivering the service that our customers expect and deserve.”