SCOTRAIL has pledged to have six-carriage trains running during the majority of peak hours services between North Berwick and Edinburgh by the end if this year.

The train firm made the promise ahead of a public meeting about rail services in East Lothian at Prestonpans Town Hall this evening.

The meeting has been arranged by county politicians Ian Gray, MSP, and Martin Whitfield, MP, to address continued concerns about overcrowded services.

ScotRail Alliance, who run the service issued a statement ahead of the meeting saying recent figures show the North Berwick line, which causes the most complaints had improved in recent months.

The company said 94.1 per cent of its trains met their target arrival times having stopped at all scheduled stations - a 10 per cent increase on last year's performance.

And they said in the last 12 weeks only one of 3,000 services running on the route missed a stop in order to prevent disruption spreading across the network.

In the last few years the service has come under fire for packed carriages, which left many people unable to get on at rush hour, earning the trains the nickname the Sardine Express.

Concerns were also raised about services terminating at Drem and turning around rather than going all the way to North Berwick.

ScotRail said: "By the end of the year, the majority of peak-time trains between North Berwick and Edinburgh are expected to have six carriages.

"Once our new Hitachi Class 385 trains enter service, these will be introduced on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High route, followed by the North Berwick route."

Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s Head of Customer Operations, is expected to attend this evening's public meeting which starts at 7pm and is open to all.

He said: "Along with ScotRail Alliance colleagues, I’m looking forward to meeting with our customers in Prestonpans, answering their questions about the service we provide and the improvements we will be making.

We know that East Lothian is an exceptionally popular place to live, and there’s an ever-growing demand for our services to and from Edinburgh.

“With that in mind, we are doing all we can to ensure everyone has a comfortable journey. By the end of this year, even more of our customers will be able to benefit from longer trains with more seats and better services.”