Cowdenbeath railway station

Cowdenbeath railway station is a railway station in the town of Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and is on the Fife Circle Line, 22+1⁄2 miles (36.2 km) north of Edinburgh Waverley.

Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath railway station in 2012
General information
Location	Cowdenbeath, Fife Scotland
Coordinates	56.1120°N 3.3431°W / 56.1120; -3.3431
Grid reference	NT165918
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	COW
History
Opened	2 June 1890
Passengers
2018/19	0.157 million
2019/20	0.135 million
2020/21	17,956
2021/22	82,690
2022/23	94,078
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station can be accessed via two steep ramps from either the east side of the High Street, or Station Road, and there is a footbridge connecting the platforms.

The ticket office is situated within the waiting room. Additional ticket facilities are provided by an automatic ticket machine outside the waiting room. There is a toilet but to access it, a key must be obtained from the ticket office. There were public toilet facilities in the High Street but these were closed in May 2008; now the nearest facilities are at Cowdenbeath Library, at the north end of the High Street. The former nearest public toilet was Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre, which is closed for refurbishment until the end of 2025.

The nearest bus stops, public phones and taxi rank are in the High Street.

History

The Edinburgh and Northern Railway was the first company to serve Cowdenbeath from 1848, with the Kinross-shire Railway line to Kinross opening 12 years later in 1860 (this later became part of the most direct rail route between Edinburgh and Perth). This though followed a more southerly course through the town than the present alignment, which was built & commissioned by the North British Railway in June 1890 as part of the programme of works associated with the new Forth Rail Bridge. The station here was opened on this date, with the original depot becoming Cowdenbeath Old. A connecting chord was subsequently built to link the 'New' station to the 1848 E&NR route and from March 1919, all passenger services were routed this way. The 1848 station & line serving it was then closed to passengers, although it remained open for through goods traffic until 1966 and to serve a colliery at the western end until 1978.

The opening of the Dunfermline and Queensferry Railway in 1877 and the Glenfarg Line linking Kinross with Bridge of Earn meant that the new station was served from the outset by main line expresses between Edinburgh and Perth (some of which continued on to Inverness via the Highland Main Line) as well as local trains toward Stirling (via Alloa) & Thornton Junction along the old E&NR route via Cardenden from 1919. All the routes in the area became part of the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 Grouping and the Scottish Region of British Railways upon nationalisation of the railway network in January 1948.

The station was not listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report, but it lost many of its services in the years that followed - trains to the coast were withdrawn beyond Cardenden in October 1969, whilst the Kinross and Perth line was closed to all traffic just a few months later (on 5 January 1970) leaving only the route to Dunfermline & Edinburgh in operation. Cowdenbeath thereafter became the terminus for most trains, with only a limited number of peak period services continuing through to Cardenden. This remained the situation until the line beyond there to Thornton Junction was reopened and the Fife Circle Line service introduced in 1989.

Services

Monday to Saturday daytimes there is generally a half-hourly service southbound to Edinburgh and an hourly service northbound towards Glenrothes with Thornton (and back to Edinburgh) on the Fife Circle Line. Although some services now terminate at Cowdenbeath then return on the Edinburgh-bound track after reversing at the points located 13 chains (860 ft; 260 m) south of the station.

In the evenings and on Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Dunfermline Queen Margaret		ScotRail Fife Circle Line		Lochgelly

External links

• Train times and station information for Cowdenbeath railway station from National Rail