MINISTERS are to launch a review of rail fares across Scotland with the aim of cutting rail costs and reducing road congestion.

Tavish Scott, the transport minister, is concerned that ticket prices have risen steadily while the cost of motoring has fallen in real terms.

The Scottish executive may underwrite the scheme by increasing the £5m-a-week subsidy it gives First ScotRail.

Scott, however, believes this may prove unnecessary as lower ticket prices on the railway would increase demand and thus go a long way to raising extra revenue.

“We want to identify the best mechanism to get more people out of their cars and on to public transport, in this case on to rail, and at the same time make it affordable and therefore grow the routes,” he said.

“I recognise that affordability is an issue in terms of how people use railways.

“We have a rising number of people using rail, but are we losing some who are not taking the train because of price? The evidence seems to show that pricing is choking off demand.”

While Scott said he accepted that available capacity on the rail network was limited, he said more carriages could be added to increase capacity.

“For Glasgow to Edinburgh, for example, we need to look at putting two extra carriages on at peak times and therefore create many more seats,” he said. “We also have to look at station platform lengths and car parking at stations to accommodate this. It’s all interlinked.”

According to a survey by Passenger Focus, a rail watchdog, 55% of Scots travellers believe trains offer poor value for money.

Though the executive has the power to regulate rail fares on commuter trains around Glasgow, Edinburgh and Fife, it cannot force First ScotRail to lower prices on other routes between Scotland’s cities.

However, if the company refuses to make services more affordable ministers have the ultimate sanction of not renewing its franchise in 2011.

Scott intends to hold talks with the industry and rail user groups in the coming months to identify ways to make train travel more attractive and affordable.

The move follows the announcement last week of fare increases of up to 28% on seven busy First ScotRail routes. An early morning rail journey from Glasgow to Dundee now costs £36.

Sources close to the minister have said he was dismayed by First ScotRail’s decision to increase long-distance fares to encourage off-peak travel. “Tavish is severely hacked off with it and with some of the fare structures. It’s hardly an incentive to use the train,” a source said.

Fergus Ewing, the SNP shadow transport minister, said the nationalists backed cheaper fares and longer trains.

“It is quite clear that on some of the busier routes extra carriages would be full or nearly full, leading to more revenue,” he said.

A spokesman for First ScotRail defended its pricing strategy and said the company was “as keen as anyone to encourage more people to travel by train”.

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