This comes after a call for urgent action to drive forward improvements on train services affecting Dunfermline was made by Graeme Downie MP and Claire Baker MSP.
The pair highlighted the frustration reported to them by constituents with short forming of trains, regular delays and short-notice cancellations becoming regular occurrences.
Claire Baker also called for “immediate action” after figures from ScotRail showed that a peak time service from Perth to Edinburgh, which stops at Aberdour and Dalgety Bay, was running with a reduced number of carriages on more than half of its timetabled journeys in November.
READ MORE: MSP calls for better train capacity for Fife’s ScotRail passengers
The petition summary states: “Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure every city in Scotland has a direct, express rail connection to each other by expanding ScotRail’s Inter7City routes to include Scotland’s newest city, Dunfermline.”
The petition background says: “The Scottish Government has announced it will seek a replacement for the High Speed Train (HST) fleet which operates on its InterCity routes, and is committed to moving more people from road to rail.
“This creates an opportunity to expand the InterCity routes to include Dunfermline. This would improve connectivity between all of Scotland’s major cities whilst helping boost the long awaited Alloa-Dunfermline link.
“Current express services have seen tangible benefits to similar sized cities of Stirling and Perth whilst boosting access between Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.
“Dunfermline has 1 train a day in each direction to Perth; all other services only serve Edinburgh.
“Providing hub stations in Fife, at Inverkeithing and Markinch, allows express services to connect with commuter communities. The West Fife area is underserved by rail, which sees huge numbers across all stations, set on the backdrop of new housing developments.”
READ MORE: Claire Baker questions Scottish Government on rail travel
The Press previously reported that Inverkeithing was also experiencing train woes. There were more than 500 ‘full’ train cancellations at Inverkeithing Rail Station in the past year.
1038 train services due to travel via Inverkeithing were more than nine minutes late. In addition to this, 615 were between ten and 14 minutes late.
There were 548 full cancellations and 224 part-cancellations in the past year up to November 7.
We asked our readers to get in touch regarding their experiences on trains in West Fife.
One commuter told the Press: “In September 2024 I was on a train from Edinburgh Waverley to Inverkeithing, departing just after 5pm.
“It was so overcrowded that, when trying to disembark at Inverkeithing station the train pulled away before we could all get off. Doors just closed and around 10 passengers had to get off at the next stop. This was 3 miles walk and in torrential rain.
“I had to pay £9 for a taxi back to Inverkeithing station where my car was.
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“I complained but got a stock reply back saying sorry I didn’t get a seat and was uncomfortable. Very angry as the price had gone back to peak fares for us commuters.”
Another train traveller told us about how overcrowded the trains can be on their commute.
They said: “I regularly take the rush hour trains between Rosyth and Waverley and these are consistently, extremely overcrowded. I believe these services are meant to have five carriages, however, the vast majority of the time they only have two or three carriages.
“The only time they consistently had five carriages was during the Fringe Festival last August (it’s almost as if Scotrail doesn’t want the bad press of upsetting festival goers but doesn’t care about Fife residents).
“Furthermore, Scotrail almost never lists these services as having only two carriages on their website, despite doing this for other services throughout the day.
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“Despite Rosyth being a relatively early stop on these services, I have had to stand for the journey to work on multiple occasions and twice I have been physically unable to board the train due to overcrowding.
“For commuters at Inverkeithing and North Queensferry this will be even worse. Anyone commuting home from Haymarket in the evening will almost never get a seat as there is already people standing from Waverley.
“Saturdays are often equally bad; on one occasion before Christmas I was travelling to Edinburgh Gateway, but the train was so overcrowded that by the time I pushed through everyone to get to the door it was too late and I ended up having to get off at South Gyle.
“I have raised this issue multiple times with ScotRail both directly and through MSPs.
“Annabelle Ewing even went to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport about the issue, but the problem is that ScotRail always respond with the same excuses (available stock, driver availability and the weather) with vague promises to do better.
“Where these explanations don’t add up is the fact that none of my colleagues that travel into Edinburgh from elsewhere seem to have these issues, it only seems to be the Fife services that are this poor.
“My guess is that the Scotrail hierarchy have a very outdated idea of how many people actually commute into Edinburgh from Fife and this will likely only get worse as more people move to the area.”