SCOTRAIL’S new fleet of trains will benefit the whole of Scotland, and not just the busier Central Belt routes, transport minister Humza Yousaf has promised.

The Class 385 trains, unveiled by transport bosses yesterday in Glasgow, will begin testing later this week, with a view to beginning operations in September next year.

They will first serve the Glasgow to Edinburgh line, via Falkirk High, before being rolled out on a number of Glasgow Central routes by May 2018, and then on the Glasgow to Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa lines from December 2018.

It has been hailed as a milestone in the ongoing efforts to improve the country’s railways, which have endured heavy scrutiny recently.

Increasing fares, reliability problems and overcrowding are regular concerns among commuters, but it is hoped the new Hitachi trains will be an important step in restoring public confidence in Scotland’s railway network.

Speaking at the ScotRail depot in Pollokshields yesterday, Mr Yousaf insisted the 385s will not only ease the pressure on Scotland’s peak routes, but will improve links to more remote areas of the country.

He said: “I have no doubt that, once these carriages go into service, the extra space and seats will transform the experience of users and help to continue to build upon the success of ScotRail services across the country.

“People won’t be surprised that Edinburgh to Glasgow is our busiest commuter route, so they will be serviced by these trains before everybody else.

“But, certainly, once they come on, we can cascade carriages across the network, including the far north of Scotland and down to the Borders.

“What we don’t want people to think is that we are only concentrating on the Central Belt, as important as the Central Belt is to us in Scotland.

“We’re going to be ambitious for the next control period, 2019-2024, to make improvements right across Scotland and I don’t want any part of Scotland to feel like it’s been forgotten when it comes to our railways.”

Although it will be a while before commuters will reap the benefits of the new 385s, the head of ScotRail operating firm Abellio insists all efforts are being made to bring in new trains from across the UK network to fill the gaps. Dominic Booth, managing director of Abellio UK, said: “It’s very difficult to find trains anywhere in the United Kingdom. We are constantly on the lookout and, if anything becomes available, then obviously we’ll work up a proposal and see if we can get it to Scotland.

“But trains are in relatively short supply at the moment. If we get the chance to bring any trains to Scotland in the intermediate period, then we’ll try to do that.”