SCOTLAND should be represented on the board of the UK's new state-run rail service, campaigners have said.

The East Coast Main Line service is to be brought back under public control following the failure of the current franchise, and a rail union leader said Holyrood should get a “binding say” on its management.

The line serves routes from the Highlands through to London, including services between the UK and Scottish capitals.

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: "The Scottish Government must demand that they have at least one director on the board of the new company.

"This company is owned by all taxpayers, whether north or south of the border and as such it's only right that the people of Scotland have at least one representative on its board."

Current operators Stagecoach and Virgin Trains will hand over responsibility from June 24, but UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told MPs that his department will only run the service until a new public-private partnership can be appointed in 2020.

The loss-making East Coast service is to be replaced in the interim by a public sector "operator of last resort" and is being renamed London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

Cortes also made a fresh call for ScotRail to be nationalised.

He said: "It's also high time for the SNP to get off the fence and categorically say that they will be bringing ScotRail into public ownership.

"I am of the view that the only sensible things that can prevail is to keep this line in public ownership for ever and a day."

Scotland's Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, welcomed the call from Cortes for Holyrood to be given a binding say about the service.

Yousaf said: "That merits further consideration."

Meanwhile, Yousaf, in a letter to Grayling, said the new state run service would benefit from the Scottish Government involvement.

Yousaf said: "As well as the obvious requirement for Scottish representation on your new LNER Board, I am confident it would benefit from the expertise we can offer.

"I would be pleased to work in practical partnership to the mutual benefit of both England and Scotland: a real opportunity for progress on this essential route which links our two capitals."

In response, a spokesman from the UK Government's Department for Transport said ministers would consider Yousaf's request: “The creation of LNER will support the evolutionary introduction of the East Coast Partnership – bringing together the operation of track and train in a way that puts passengers first and transforms services the length of the East Coast Mainline.

“We will consider the Scottish Government’s request and respond in due course.”