THE Scottish Government has announced that they will adhere to their initial plan to remove peak fare rail travel during a six-month trial.

This follows a series of confusing statements made by various ministers in relation to which routes would benefit from taking away peak fares.

Michael Matheson, cabinet secretary for net zero, energy and transport, stated that the pilot scheme "will not remove peak fares across the network", instead only operating on a select number of specific routes.

This was then contradicted by the transport minister Jenny Gilruth who insisted the initiative would cover all railway routes as initially planned.

Claire Baker, MSP for mid Scotland and Fife, has written to the Scottish Government asking for a final decision on how the plan will work and has urged the inclusion of routes across Clackmannanshire.

She said: "Passengers across Scotland were told the trial scrapping peak fares would apply across the network but the last couple of weeks the Scottish Government plans have become more confused.

"The cabinet secretary said a whole network trial wasn't possible within the £15 million investment provided, yet the minister has stated the pilot will be in place across all Scotland routes.

"The Scottish Government needs to communicate its plans clearly to passengers including how it is financing the scheme and how it will work.

"A removal of peak rail fares across the network would have huge impacts in terms of improving the affordability of rail travel and should be just part of a number of changes to improve services throughout mid Scotland and Fife."

A spokesperson for Transport Scotland said: "The peak-fares pilot will apply to all routes for the whole six months, commencing in the next financial year.

“Work on the precise methodology and design is ongoing, with Transport Scotland officials working closely with Scottish Rail Holdings and ScotRail to derive maximum benefit for this scheme.”