THE freight company at the centre of a row over running night-time trains past residential areas has hit out at the council behind the re-opened railway line for failing to inform the public about its effects.

In a terse letter to Clackmannanshire Council, which promoted and built the £85m project, DB Schenker claimed the authority would have been aware of the need to run coal trains on a 24-hour timetable along the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine (SAK) route in order to supply Longannet power station in Fife.

DB Schenker's managing director, Paul Bates, made his claims in a letter, dated March 4, which has been disclosed by Transport Scotland via a Freedom of Information request and comes after The Herald revealed yesterday that residents could receive millions of pounds' compensation as a result of living next to the railway.

Mr Bates said in the letter it would be "unfortunate" if residents had been given the impression by the council that there would be no train activity between midnight and 6am but that, without night-time running of trains, Longannet would not be able to meet its need for coal.

"This has always been our requirement and was made known to both Transport Scotland and Network Rail during our many interactions prior to the re-opening of the route," he wrote.

"This does not in any way alleviate the problem for your residents but this railway is required 24 hours a day and six days a week to deliver coal. As a promoter of the railway this will have been known by Clackmannanshire Council."

It has also emerged that an environmental statement into the impact of the railway line in 2003 which was commissioned by the council and submitted to the Scottish Parliament as supporting evidence for the bill which authorised it, was later heavily criticised in an independent review.

The assessment of noise and vibration impact by consultants Scott Wilson, which assumed that trains would only run between 6am and 11pm, failed to follow "standard practice" by basing it on the worst traffic assumptions, according to engineering consultancy Arup.

Clackmannanshire Council confirmed yesterday it had been made aware of the 24-hour, six-day timetable on the SAK route in May 2008 by Transport Scotland, the government agency. But neither public body informed the public until night-time trains were introduced in December.

Eddie Carrick, portfolio holder for sustainability, said: "I can state, unequivocally, that Clackmannanshire Council did not mislead residents. At no point prior to this (May 2008) was there any indication from the freight company to the council that overnight trains would be a feature on the line and it wasn't until this company took over the contract to deliver coal to Longannet that this has become a problem.

"Longannet had no night- time operations at the time the Bill to re-open the line went through Parliament.

"The Council had no interaction with the Freight Operating Company on their proposed overnight timetable, although we understand that discussions did take place involving DB Schenker (formerly EWS), Network Rail and Transport Scotland.

"The Council is aware of the disturbance being caused to residents and has written to DB Schenker to ask them to reconsider the necessity of overnight services. We have also asked for a meeting with DB Schenker, but so far they have declined our invitations.

The latest revelation came as a parliamentary debate was held yesterday on the effect of noise on residents in Larbert, Stirlingshire, due to coal trains that have pased their houses en route to Longannet.

Michael Matheson MSP, who proposed the debate, urged Network Rail and DB Schenker to work towards implementing a speed restriction on the route, but a briefing by Network Rail, which is responsible for rail infrastructure, claimed it was not able to impose a speed restriction on grounds other than safety.