A faster rail service between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh has been announced by Transport Scotland. The new service will have an average journey time of 63 minutes and the new hourly service will cut the journey time by 33 minutes.

It will stop at fewer stations than the current service which takes 1 hr 6 mins and will more than double the number of journeys on that route and forms part of a drive by the Scottish government to encourage more commuters to swap their car for the train.

Rail passengers across Lanarkshire and the Lothians will be able to take advantage of the new speedier service which will call at Bellshill, Shotts, West Calder, Livingston South and Haymarket.

Stewart Stevenson, Transport Minister, said the new timetable would offer quicker journeys, extra evening services and a more regular departure pattern commenting "We have worked hard to ensure communities across central Scotland can benefit from access to the rail network and these new services deliver a good balance between connectivity and journey times. These new services demonstrate we are committed to helping more people make the switch away from the private car to more sustainable modes of transport."

The new service will increase the number of train journeys on the Shotts line linking Edinburgh and Glasgow Central from 28 to 58.

Steve Montgomery, ScotRail's managing director, said: "I welcome these increases to services. The enhancements will bring many benefits to our growing number of customers."