Scotland's Transport Minister yesterday urged more people to use trains during a visit to one the country's busiest stations to view the results of a £150m upgrade.

Stewart Stevenson's visit to Waverley Station in Edinburgh marks the completion of a major overhaul of its platforms, tracks and signalling.

The upgrade was funded by government agency Transport Scotland and carried out by Network Rail. It has provided the station with increased capacity for trains, and longer, more-accessible, platforms.

Electrification equipment has also been installed in the west end of the station in preparation for the Airdrie-Bathgate rail link.

Mr Stevenson said: "This £150m of investment will bring real improvements for Scotland's rail passengers.

"We want to see more and more passengers use our Scottish rail services, encouraging them out of their cars, and on to public transport.

"Earlier this year, we announced even more investment in rail, with £2.6bn over the next three years now set to be directed into further improvements across the country.

"Together with our plans to electrify the Edinburgh to Glasgow line, and the £70m investment released through the recent deal with First ScotRail, passengers are really set to benefit."

Ron McAulay, Network Rail's director in Scotland, added: "The completion of the track and platform works, on time and on budget, was an enormous achievement for the team working on this project.

"Waverley is an illustrious, historically important station where the needs of passengers are constantly evolving.

"The need to preserve the historic fabric of the station has to be balanced with the demands of the growing Scottish rail network. The work, now completed, does just that."

Other station improvements have included the installation of modern passenger information boards for all platforms, new security cameras and the station toilets have also been refurbished at a cost of £50,000.

The upgrades are also seen as important forerunners to the planned new railway from the Edinburgh station to the Borders, the Waverley line.

It is expected to run from Edinburgh Waverley to Tweedbank near Galashiels by around 2013, two years later than initially planned.