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 ). 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 and 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 meant that the new station was served from the outset by main line expresses between Edinburgh and Perth (some of which continued on to 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Beeching Report, but it lost many of its services in the years that followed - trains to the coast were withdrawn beyond in October 1969, whilst the Kinross and Perth line was closed to all traffic just a few months later (on 5 January 1970) leaving only the route to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 and 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. The circular service beyond Glenrothes with Thornton down the coast no longer operates - the hourly service now runs to and from via Thornton Junction since the May 2025 timetable change. == Services ==