Pythion railway station is a junction where the railway to
Ormenio and
Bulgaria branches off the main line from
Thessaloniki to
Istanbul through
Alexandroupoli and
Uzunköprü. The railway was built by the
Chemins de fer Orientaux (CO), managed by
Maurice de Hirsch, as part of the CO's contract to build a line from Istanbul to
Vienna. The railway reached Pythio, known as
Kuleliburgaz during Ottoman rule, in 1873, when the line from Istanbul to
Edirne and Bulgaria was opened. A 112 km branch from Pythio to
Alexandroupoli (then known as Dedeağaç) was opened in 1874. When the railway was built it was all within the
Ottoman Empire. During World War I the railway was an important link as the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary were all
Central Allies. On 14 December 1916
Allied aeroplanes bombed the bridge over the river Evros near Pythio (
Kuleliburgaz). Under the
Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, a new border between Greece and Turkey was established at the Evros river, just east of Pythio, which had the result that the railway from Istanbul to Bulgaria entered Greece at Pythio, then re-entered Turkey at Edirne (
Karaağaç railway station), re-entered Greece at
Marasia, and finally entered Bulgaria between Ormenio and
Svilengrad. This arrangement continued until 1971, when two new lines were opened. In Turkey the
Edirne Cut-off was opened to allow trains from Istanbul to Bulgaria to run through Edirne entirely on Turkish territory, so that trains such as the
Orient Express no longer had to stop at Pythio. In Greece a line was opened to allow trains from Pythio to Bulgaria to stay on Greek territory and avoid Edirne. ==Historical population==