SCOTRAIL customers faced a fifth working day of travel disruption and frustration with the largest number of cancellations since the new winter timetables were brought in and a further fault with its flagship new Class 385 electric trains.

Ongoing staff shortages were once again blamed for as dozens of services were cancelled throughout Friday and there were further complaints of overcrowding as train carriages were cut.

At least eight services between Glasgow and Edinburgh were cancelled between 3pm and 7.30pm, affecting hundreds of passengers and leading to more ScotRail apologies.

Most of the cancellations across the country were down to staff shortages, which ScotRail say was partly caused by workers not bein ready for the implementation of the new winter timetable which was launched on Sunday. ScotRail, run by Dutch transport firm Abellio, say that was caused by the late arrival of the new Hitachi Class 385 and high-speed InterCity trains.

ScotRail said they were still facing impacts from several weeks of industrial action over a pay dispute with the RMT that was resolved following talks on Tuesday, last week.

Two of the Glasgow to Edinburgh services were cancelled because of a communications fault with one of the Hitachi electric trains, which was later fixed.

A further Glasgow to Edinburgh service was cancelled on Friday evening due to train "congestion".  ScotRail said this was caused by service delays, with some trains arriving at Haymarket around the same time needing to pass through platforms 1 and 2.

Further faults with the environmentally friendly trains led to at least two Edinburgh to Glasgow services being cancelled on Wednesday. On Tuesday, three Edinburgh to Glasgow services were cancelled after two of the new trains were taken offline because of faults.

READ MORE: More apologies after fourth working day of ScotRail new timetable disruption

The number of live cancelled trains in Scotland reached a high of 32 on at 3.15pm on Friday.

ScotRail, the train operator run by Dutch transport company Abellio, had said its new electric and high-speed trains including the Class 385 stock would allow shorter journey times, more seats and more services on updated routes to build "the best railway Scotland has ever had".

As passengers continued to lodge their complaints about the service, new figures for the four weeks to last Saturday, before the winter timetable came in, showed that puncuality had improved for the first time in three months.

Across Scotland, 83.4% of ScotRail trains met the rail industry standard public performance measure, arriving at their destination within four minutes and 59 seconds of their timetabled arrival time. That's just 0.1 per cent better than the same period last year but better than the 80.5% for the previous four-week period.

ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Alex Hynes said: “We know it has been a challenging time for Scotland’s railway, but it is encouraging to see that our punctuality has improved in recent weeks.

“With the successful introduction of the new timetable, everyone across the ScotRail Alliance is working flat out to keep improving the service for our customers.

“With the first phase of improvements in place, our new trains and infrastructure enhancements, we are working together to deliver the punctuality and quality of service that our customers deserve.”

In October, ScotRail were forced to withdraw the three Hitachi trains in service after an unspecified fault was identified having been introduced in July.

The environmentally friendly Hitachi trains - which are said to be "light, spacious and modern" - were meant to come into service in March.

But their introduction was delayed after drivers raised concerns about the design of their windscreens.

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The train firm ordered 46 three-carriage and 24 four-carriage sets of the 385 trains from manufacturer Hitachi as part of its £475m investment in rolling stock and they were due to all be running in the central belt by early next year.

There are now 31 in service with 19 on the Edinburgh to Glasgow route

A ScotRail spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to our customers who have experienced disruption today – the vast majority of our services have run, and we’re working hard to improve that for tomorrow.

“Anyone delayed by 30 minutes or more as a result of a cancellation is entitled compensation through our Delay Repay Guarantee. Just keep hold of your ticket and claim on our website or mobile app.”

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