The Scottish Government has pledged to cut rail journey times between Inverness and the central belt over the next four years.
Transport Scotland has responded to complaints from north Labour MSPs David Stewart and Rhoda Grant that promised improvements have progressed “at a snail’s pace”.
Mr Stewart, Scottish Labour’s transport spokesman, claimed there was “no end in sight” to a Scottish Government pledge in 2007 to cut rail journey times between Inverness and Edinburgh by 45 minutes.
He cited December 2012 weekday figures that showed an average one-minute reduction in southbound journeys to Edinburgh and two minutes on the Glasgow route; a nine-minute cut in northbound journeys from Edinburgh and a five and a half-minute reduction in Glasgow to Inverness journey times.
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “We remain committed to delivering journey time improve-ments and greater connectivity for both passenger and freight services operating between Inverness and the central belt, and between Aberdeen and Inverness.
“We began delivering a commitment to improve journey times on the Highland main line in December 2011 by introducing two extra services each way, per day, and journey time improvements of up to 18 minutes from December 2012.
“In addition to this, the Highland main line rail improvement project will be completed in phases between 2014 and 2025.”
He added: “Between 2014 and 2019 it will deliver further improvements to passenger journey times of up to 10 minutes, and greater service frequency in addition to more efficient freight operations, although the exact scope and timing of works for
future phases has yet to be determined.”
Mr Stewart said yesterday he would be raising a parliamentary question on the weekday and weekend journey times on the routes with Transport Minister Derek Mackay.
“I think the key point of Transport Scotland’s reply is its response that there have been ‘improvements of up to 18 minutes’,”
he said. “I will be asking for more detail on the journey times which, hopefully, will shed more light on this important issue.”
