Conservative MSP Liz Smith has called for a rethink on the reopening of Newburgh railway station.
A campaign to revive the station, which has been closed since 1955, was launched by Sustainable Newburgh.
The action group said there was overwhelming support for the station’s reinstatement after carrying out a survey in the community.
Transport Scotland ruled out the move in its Strategic Transport Projects Review but a spokesman for the Scottish Government agency said that ministers would be prepared to consider a station at Newburgh subject to a study by South East of Scotland Transport Partnership (SEStran).
In a letter to Transport Minister Keith Brown, Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Ms Smith said: “Scottish Conservatives have supported the reopening of Newburgh station over a number of years.
“However, I am sorry to say that progress on this issue has been frustrated by the lack of vision shown by the SNP Scottish Government and in particular their transport agency Transport Scotland.
“The campaign to reopen Newburgh station has been a long and complex campaign. Most recently, SEStran recommended in 2010 that the reopening of Newburgh station be added to Scotland’s strategic transport projects.
“However, when deciding and drawing up the list of projects, Transport Scotland formally objected to the proposal for a station at Newburgh on the basis that in considering proposals for reopening or providing new stations, ministers must balance the desire to attract new users against the impact of network capacity.
“The SNP Scottish Government did not, therefore, take forward the reopening of Newburgh station.
“At that time the point was made that the argument against reopening Newburgh station was bizarre as, in this individual case, the line which Newburgh station would use already has additional capacity available and the reopening would in fact help to attract new users.
“The proposal sadly was not included in the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) for railway stations.
“SEStran has suggested that the reopening of the Newburgh station could be included as part of the Highland line and the Fife network projects.
“Extensive work has already been carried out to assess the feasibility of a halt being added to the line at Newburgh.
“It is clear that local community support for the reopening of Newburgh station is high.
“The results of the Sustainable Newburgh area-wide survey in early 2011 showed that improving local public transport services and infrastructure, and reopening Newburgh rail station, had the support of three out of four respondents.
“I have been hugely impressed by local support and I will continue to campaign to see the reopening of the Newburgh station.
“I will raise the issue again with the transport minister and write to both Perth and Kinross and Fife councils to ask what steps they are taking to try to take forward the proposal. There is growing support for the reopening of Newburgh station and I hope we can see the proposal get back on track in 2014.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “A new station at Newburgh was considered as part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review, but was not taken forward as the review found it would not help to reduce journey times on that route.
“However, Scottish ministers are always willing to consider rail projects that provide a positive impact and we are aware of the pre-feasibility study into a station at Newburgh being carried out by SEStran and await its findings.”