Members of the Newburgh Railway Campaign Celebrating the Campaign’s New Shop Front, 27/02/2026

The Newburgh Train Station Committee celebrated the opening of its new railway shop on Friday last week, marking a major milestone in a campaign lasting more than 15 years.

The small town located in the extreme north-west end of Fife, near Tayport and Dundee, has a population of over 2000 residents, who have not been served by a railway station since 1955. 38 trains pass through the town daily.

The campaign has helped to raise £82,000 for the Scottish Transport Appraisal (STAG) by Transport Scotland. Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop also attended a meeting with the Campaign in May 2025.

Representatives of Fife Council and Newburgh Community Council believe that the reopening of the railway station is essential, as the town’s specific geographic location means it is deprived of alternative transport.

Donald Lothian of Fife Council, who attended the opening and said, “It’s a no-brainer for the railway station to be reinstated.

“This is a marathon and not a sprint; you have to have the mindset of just keeping going year after year. I didn’t expect it to be this long…” he added.

The town boasts a rich natural and cultural heritage, as the Fife coastal path starts in Newburgh.

Newburgh’s cultural pride lives on in the form of the annual “Oddfellows Parade”, a cultural tradition of the last of its kind in Scotland, and the Newburgh bear monument.

Colin Nigel, a long-serving representative of the Newburgh Train Station Committee, is keen for the new shop to facilitate a wider network of mutual support between local councils and environmental trusts. He said, “It will help them with their own developments…bringing visitors in…and eco-tourism, it’s the way forward for generations to come”.

The Newburgh railway station campaign represents many other similar rural locations in Scotland, seeking to compete with the rapid expansion of larger towns, cities and urbanised areas.

A recent planning application has proposed the construction of 183 new homes in the town, as the government seeks to offer alternative affordable housing in different locations.

The town will also offer unique job opportunities for commuters from Dundee and Perth, such as numerous placement opportunities for students studying primary education in nearby picturesque primary schools in Newburgh, Abernethy and Dunbog.

Without effective public transportation in place to support young commuters, more young people will inevitably leave the town in search of opportunities elsewhere. The same is true for people wishing to explore the town and its unique natural and cultural attractions.

Elizabeth Pryde, a local resident and ardent supporter ot the railway campaign, expressed her concerns about a “growing unemployment crisis in Newburgh”, once a bustling industrial town with its linoleum and oilskin factories, the town’s businesses are now struggling from a lack of visitors and employers.

I approached Willie Rennie, MSP of the Scottish Lib Dems, to ask what he thought of the Newburgh campaign, as a benchmark for the future progress and trajectory of improving rural connectivity and mitigating transport poverty across Scotland.

He responded: “It has been a slow and difficult process over recent years, and Newburgh’s experience shows that the Scottish Government needs to be much more responsive to the transport needs of rural areas. The campaign first submitted its STAG appraisal in June 2022, and Transport Scotland was slow to respond. We’re still waiting on the government’s decision, but through concerted effort, ministers have not been able to ignore the project.

“The station project has been mentioned in the Programme of Government and the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline. I will keep pressing the government to make a positive decision.”

Local Dog Watches the Ceremony from Adjacent Window