Rail passengers on the Edinburgh to Dunbar commuter service are being given the chance to sit back and relax to the sounds of poetry.

The idea to entertain rush hour travellers is part of a drive by East Lothian Council to encourage the public to read more books and take an added interest in poetry.

It is the brainchild of Sophy Dale, the local authority's literature development officer.

She explained: "All passengers will receive a poem-ticket with Don Paterson's railway poem, Next to Nothing, from his award-winning collection Nil Nil, printed on it.

Day at the races

"Poems on the train form one of the events all linked to the theme of working lives. Other forthcoming events include a day of poetry at Musselburgh races.

"We want to remind people that poetry can be quite new, fresh and interesting."

The actor James Bryce is reading the poems which include Robert Louis Stevenson's From a Railway Carriage and Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney's The Railway Children.

The verse venture, funded through a Scottish Arts Council grant, is not the first time poems have taken to the rails.

Roaming poet

Last year rail company Northern Spirit appointed a poet-in-residence to inspire passengers and staff on its trains.

Ian McMillan roams the network, which covers north-east England, reading to its passengers.

Mr McMillan, who is also poet-in-residence at Barnsley Football Club, is a confirmed non-car driver and a dedicated rail traveller.