Cowdenbeath’s rail station ticket office opening hours are to be cut by more than 50% from next year.

ScotRail made the announcement today with changes coming into effect next year.

The national train operator said with the majority of tickets being purchased online or through ticket machines, it was making the changes to redeploy frontline staff to be more visible in stations, claiming there will be no ticket office closures or job losses.

Cowdenbeath’s ticket office is currently open for a total of 36 hours a week:

06.30 to 13.00 Monday to Friday

09.30 to 13.00 Saturday

Closed Sunday

From 2025, the total hours will reduce to just 16 hours a week, a reduction of 55%. The new opening hours are proposed to be:

08.10 to 10.30 Monday to Thursday

09.00 to 11.45 Friday

09.00 to 13.00 Saturday

Closed Sunday

ScotRail said customers will be provided with significant notice before changes are made at each station, which will impact almost half of all staffed stations across the country. They hope deploying staff to other roles, including ticket inspection and tackling anti-social behaviour will improve the overall service for customers.

Phil Campbell, ScotRail customer opertions director, said:

“The independent passenger watchdog Transport Focus carried out extensive consultations on these proposals, which received feedback from thousands of people across Scotland. We have listened to our customers and updated our proposals based on that feedback.”

“These changes will provide a service that is better suited for today and the ticket-buying habits of our customers, as well as create an environment that improves safety and customer support.”

ScotRail said there will be no impact at 77 stations across the network, that 12 stations would see an increase in the opening hours of their ticket offices, while 54 ticket offices will have opening hours reduced.

The full list of proposed changes is available in the document here.