SNP politicians in Mid Scotland & Fife have been accused of sending out mixed messages over the proposal to re-open a direct rail link between Edinburgh and Perth. SNP Transport Minister, Keith Brown has ruled out the idea having previously supported the campaigned for the re-opening of Kinross Station when he campaigned as the SNP candidate to become the MSP for the Ochil constituency in 2007 which included Kinross-shire prior to boundary changes in 2011. Last week Perthshire South and Kinross-shire SNP MSP, Roseanna Cunningham said: “As a passenger and as a politician, I have complained long and hard about the frustrating nature of the rail connection between Perth and the capital. “I have no doubt that re-instating the direct rail link between Perth and Edinburgh via Kinross would certainly be a very positive development although there are serious practical implications to consider, not least that much of the original route of that link now lies beneath the M90” Liz Smith, Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland & Fife said: “SNP Ministers seem to be totally divided and presenting polar opposite views to the public when it comes to the proposal to re-open a direct rail link between Edinburgh and Perth. “In the debate last week on Scotland’s Railways, politicians from all parties pressed the case for the proposal to re-open a direct rail link between Edinburgh and Perth to be looked into. Sadly the SNP Transport Minister, Keith Brown poured cold water on the arguments put forward with a Scottish Government spokesman stating “the proposal was rejected during the Strategic Transport Projects Review.” “SNP Ministers seem to be totally divided on whether they support the proposal and are willing to look again at the case being made by Transform Scotland. “I would have hoped that SNP Ministers would have had more ambition for our rail network. The SNP have made many pledges to improve the rail network for communities north of the central belt – most of which they have not delivered or scrapped. “Many people in Perthshire and Fife commute to work in Edinburgh and Inverness and increasingly residents north of the central belt are asking why the First Minister and the SNP Scottish Government has failed to keep the pledge they made in 2008 to reduce the train time by 35 minutes by 2012.“The public increasingly feels that the SNP have developed a central belt bias which is holding back transport developments north of Perth. Scotland deserves a first class rail network - not the second class ticket Alex Salmond and the SNP Scottish Government offer.“The reopening a direct rail link between Edinburgh and Perth could bring many benefits not only to the local economy in Perthshire and Fife but also in delivering an improved high speed rail network north of the central belt.