SCOTRAIL has announced a boost for customers in South Lanarkshire with more seats to be made available for the increasingly popular East Kilbride and Barrhead services.

Additional Class 156 trains will be provided during the morning and evening between Glasgow Central and East Kilbride / Barrhead from May 2019.

More than 3 million customers travelled on the East Kilbride route last year - an increase of 900,000 in nine years

And more than 1.8m customers travelled on the Barrhead and Kilmarnock route - an increase of 800,000 since track and signalling improvements were completed in 2009

ScotRail Head of Business Development Scott Prentice said: "This is a fantastic boost for our customers in South Lanarkshire and is the first phase of the larger Scottish Government project to enhance the railway to East Kilbride and Barrhead.

"These routes are showing continual growth and I am delighted that we will be able to make such significant improvements for our customers."

Bill Reeve, Transport Scotland’s Director of Rail, said: "We’ve worked closely with ScotRail to secure extended leases of four c156 refurbished trains until the end of the franchise.

"From May, this will enable all peak services on the East Kilbride route to operate as six-cars and more four-cars to run on the Barrhead line allowing more passengers to choose rail travel."