A train route serving Dumbarton and the Vale has been named as one of the most overcrowded services in Scotland, a report has revealed.

A Transport Scotland survey claimed the 0707 Balloch to Airdrie peak train is the sixth-busiest in the country, running at 119 per cent of its stated capacity.

The train, which is designed to hold 282 total passengers, has seen a recorded passenger maximum of 333 passengers on the service, leading to questions from Labour over what one MSP calls “alarming” and “staggering” levels of overcrowding on the service.

In response, Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie blasted levels of overcrowding and urged ScotRail and the Scottish Government to take greater action.

She said: “These figures confirm what local passengers have been saying for months. The fact that a train which is only designed to hold 282 passengers, including those standing, can have 333 passengers on board is quite simply unacceptable. How many times do we need to raise this with ScotRail and the Transport Minister before something is done?”

The overcrowding problems are the latest in a series of issues raised regarding Dutch operator Abellio’s running of the ScotRail service, with Transport Minister Humza Yousaf forced to apologise late last year following a series of failures over reliability.

A ScotRail Alliance spokesperson said: “This information shows exactly why we are right to be investing so heavily in our largest ever train improvement programme. We need more trains on our network and that is exactly what we are delivering.

“The first of our new faster, longer, greener trains is already being tested in Scotland. This new fleet will deliver more seats for our customers and will allow us to move our existing fleet around so that the benefit is felt right across the country.”

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We wholly appreciate busy trains can be uncomfortable and we can assure passengers we are focussed on delivering the value for money service they both want and deserve.

“A hundred and forty new carriages have been introduced to the rail network by the Scottish Government since 2007 and another two hundred will come into use in the next thirty months."

The report was topped by the 17:21 Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Shotts train, which crammed in 270 passengers on a train designed to carry only 185.