Scottish Labour will renew calls for the railways to be taken back into public hands with a day of action.

Leader Richard Leonard will join activists outside Glasgow Central station to make the case for improving the railways by ending private sector ownership.

The party will argue that public transport as a public service will prioritise reliability, affordability and punctuality over profit.

Mr Leonard said: “Passengers will benefit from rail services being reintegrated into the public sector as this removes private sector companies with their excessive running costs.

“Across Europe public sector run trains are better than the current ScotRail service, with passengers in Scotland forced to endure overcrowded, delayed and cancelled services.

“Public transport has become too detached from being a public service, which prioritises reliability, affordability and punctuality.

“It is now clear that the dividing line in Scotland is between investment and growth with Labour, or cuts and division with the SNP and the Tories.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “We have already secured the right for a public-sector operator to bid for a rail franchise in Scotland – after being denied by previous UK governments, which will enable a level playing field between the private and public sector in bidding for rail franchises for the benefit of passengers and best value for the public purse.

“We should not lose sight of the transformational process under way on our railways including the infrastructure enhancements, as well as the introduction of new and fully re-furbished rolling stock with the additional services that they will provide.

“In recent years 160 extra carriages were added to ScotRail’s fleet with an extra 200 to follow in the next 12 months giving a 50% increase in carriages since 2007.”