The First Minister has said "sorry" to railway passengers after trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow were cancelled on Thursday morning.

The disruption was caused by a broken down train between Haymarket and Waverley stations in Edinburgh.

ScotRail removed the train at around 8.30am but delays continued for several hours afterwards.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale raised the matter at First Minister's Questions.

In response, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "I was advised by ScotRail just before I came into the chamber that the service is more or less returned to normal now. It has caused significant disruption.

"What I would say, and say this seriously, there are wider performance issues around ScotRail right now, we have discussed them in this chamber before, that is why there is in place an improvement performance plan that Humza Yousaf is monitoring very closely.

"I hope all members would accept that however regrettable it is, and it is deeply regrettable, that on occasion trains will break down whatever party is in government.

"The priority when that happens is to get services back to normal as quickly as possible and that is what ScotRail has been focused on this morning".

When Dugdale said her answer was not an apology for the incident, Sturgeon replied: "People watching this will have heard me say I am sorry for the disruption caused this morning and sorry for the disruption any passenger faces on any day of the week. That is ScotRail's position and it is also mine."

The First Minister told MSPs she and the transport minister Humza Yousaf had a conference call with railway bosses over the incident on Thursday morning.

The latest round of railway statistics show 90% of trains at Glasgow High Street, Arbroath, Ardrossan Harbour and Arbroath stations are late, while a further 22 stations have more than half of their services running behind schedule.

ScotRail operator Abellio's target is to have 91% of trains running on time.

Dugdale highlighted on Wednesday that the figure was significantly below this level.

The Scottish Labour leader said: "We can accept that today's disruption might be a one-off. But yesterday was considered just a normal day on Scotland's rail network and you can bet there are wider performance issues, First Minister.

"Scottish Labour can reveal the performance figure for yesterday was 79%. That means on a normal day more than one in five trains failed to arrive on time.

"In rural areas, yesterday's performance figure was 60% that is against a target of 91%. It is not even close, First Minister."

Dugdale said passengers have lost confidence in the transport minister.

The First Minister raised the prospect of using a break clause in its contract with Abellio to bring ScotRail out of its hands five years earlier than expected.

"There are options for the contract to be broken early and we will keep that option under review," Sturgeon said.

Yousaf has also previously said the Scottish Government is considering its options.

Under the latest round of further devolution, the Scottish Government can now award the rail franchise contract to a public-sector firm.

Yousaf has said the government will prepare a public-sector body to bid for the contract.

The contract will come up for review in 2020, Abellio had expected to stay in control of the franchise until 2025.