First Minister Alex Salmond has been accused of breaking a pledge he made on reducing train times between Edinburgh and Inverness.
Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Liz Smith claimed Mr Salmond and the Scottish Government have reneged on a promise to cut the time on the route by 35 minutes by 2012.
The Scottish Conservative told The Courier she wrote to the First Minister to ask him to explain why he has not kept to his word and said the Scottish Government has a “central belt bias”.
She said: “In August 2008, the First Minister promised voters north of the central belt the SNP Scottish Government was in negotiation with Network Rail to make improvements to the line between Inverness and Edinburgh and made the specific commitment to reduce the train time by 35 minutes by 2012.”
Ms Smith raised the matter with Mr Salmond at First Minister’s Questions but felt he “appeared to ignore” her queries.
“The First Minister failed to explain why his pledge to reduce the journey time between Inverness and Edinburgh by 35 minutes by 2012 has not happened,” she said.
“Instead of answering why his SNP Scottish Government has not met the target to reduce the journey time on the Edinburgh to Inverness line, he decided to talk about Aberdeen to Inverness instead of facing up to his broken pledge.
“Many people in Perthshire and Fife commute to work in Inverness and increasingly, residents north of the central belt are asking why the SNP are failing to invest in our rail network.
“Local people increasingly feel the SNP has developed a central belt bias which is seeing the need of the communities north of the central belt ignored.
“Scotland deserves a first-class rail network not the second-class ticket Mr Salmond and the SNP Scottish Government offer.”
A spokesman for Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “The Tories are cutting Scotland’s capital budget by a quarter, so it’s the height of hypocrisy for Liz Smith to complain about lack of investment.
“Our £5 billion commitment to rail infrastructure and services is addressing decades of neglect throughout Scotland by both Labour and Tory governments.
“We are committed to delivering a 35-minute journey time reduction between Inverness and the central belt and an hourly service and more efficient freight operations by 2025 to support economic growth.
“The intention has always been to complete the complex scheme in phases.”