Dunfermline City
Station 149Rudy visited Dunfermline City on
Wednesday, 30th November 2022
arriving at 12:21 on a train from Edinburgh.
Dunfermline Railway Station
Dunfermline’s first “proper railway” arrived in 1849 but this station location dates from 1877. Originally known as Dunfermline (Comely Park) it was rebuilt slightly west in 1890 as Dunfermline Lower and renamed simply Dunfermline in 1968 when Dunfermline Upper closed. January 2000 saw the opening of Dunfermline Queen Margaret just 2.5km (1.6 miles) away so this station became Dunfermline Town to avoid confusion. In 2022 Dunfermline was granted city status and to reflect that the station name was changed again. It’s now Dunfermline City – but for how long?
Dunfermline station’s main building dates from 1890 and benefitted from being thoroughly cleaned and modernised in the 1980s. The station is on the Fife Circle line and is therefore served by local stopping trains rather than express services. More than a quarter of a million passengers used the station in 2021-2022.
Dunfermline Town Station
When we planned our Dunfermline adventure the station was called Dunfermline Town. We knew the process to change its name had started but no formal date or timeline was given. The station signs were replaced without notice or fanfare on the Wednesday just before we visited. The departure screens at Edinburgh read “City” but the on-train announcements said “Town”.
As a purposeful novelty or by oversight there remains one old Town station sign at the far end of platform 1. It’s past the trespass boards so not accessible to take Rudy’s picture with it but we did manage to grab a photo from the train on the way past.
Rather than a footbridge at Dunfermline City there is an underpass which allows access between platforms,
Dunfermline City staff hours are from morning until evening with toilets available during those times or using a radar key.
Separate step-free ramp access is available to both platforms with a subway between them. The ramp to platform 1 is steeper than may be preferred by some users.
