TRAINS are more likely to be late than on time on a third of Scotland's routes, leading to calls for new action against the Dutch operators of the ScotRail franchise.

New figures reveal that almost 90 per cent of trains arrive late to Glasgow High Street, Arbroath, Ardrossan Harbour and Arbroath stations, with passengers arriving at 22 other locations also more likely than not to be delayed.

Meanwhile, rush hour fares, which commuters often have little option but to pay, have soared by three times more than average wage rises since the turn of the decade. A peak-time return ticket between Edinburgh and Glasgow now costs £23.30.

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Nicola Sturgeon, challenged over the statistics at First Ministers' Questions, admitted that the opposition was "right to raise the concerns of the travelling public" and said she would work with ScotRail to deliver a service passengers expect.

However, she faced calls to "just get on a train" to appreciate levels of overcrowding and was told commuters are receiving a "shocking service" from Abellio, the company which is making a £1 million per month profit from the £6 billion franchise.

When the deal was announced two years ago, the Scottish Government said it would "benefit the whole of Scotland" and described the contract as "world leading".

But Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said a publicly-owned "people's ScotRail" would mean a better deal, while the SNP has committed to ensuring a public sector operator is in a position to bid for a future contract. The current contract lasts for 10 years, with a mid-point break clause.

Ms Dugdale said: "In the past few months, Scotland’s rail passengers have faced cancellations, delays and overcrowding. New figures show that a third of all routes in Scotland have services that are late more often than they are on time.

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"And since 2011, the Scottish Government’s cap on rush hour fares has increased by over 23 per cent, while average weekly earnings have increased by only six per cent.

"Those who travel by train to their work every day are paying more for a shocking service. Scottish commuters are fed up with the SNP’s excuses and want their rail services back on track."

Stations with more than 70 per cent of trains arriving late when they terminate include Milngavie, Wick, Carnoustie and Dalmuir. Almost two thirds of trains arrive late into Largs and Balloch, with Motherwell, Helensburgh, Elgin and Lanark also seeing over half delayed.

Ms Sturgeon said that an improvement plan had been requested and submitted by ScotRail last month. She told Ms Dugdale: "I have said that it is our responsibility, working with ScotRail, to ensure that a quality service is delivered. We continue to invest significant sums of money in the rail network to ensure that that responsibility is discharged.

"I understand the concerns of the travelling public, but my job and the transport minister’s job is to get on with fixing the problems, not to just carp from the sidelines."

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ScotRail said it had achieved a 90.7 per cent rating for the four weeks to mid-September under the standard industry measurement for performance and reliability, with its annual rating above the average in England and Wales.

A spokeswoman said it is ranked tenth out of 23 UK operators, and was investing £475m new trains and refurbishments. She added: "We have had a challenging few month due to the ongoing industrial action, the big infrastructure works at Queen Street and the programme to electrify the line between Glasgow and Edinburgh. This has undoubtedly contributed to the fact that we are slightly behind our demanding target for performance. We have agreed an action plan with Transport Scotland about how we pull this back up to the level we would expect."