In 1847, the Great Hall of Berwick Castle had to be demolished to make way for the new station, which opened the following year. This replaced an initial structure erected by the North British Railway, whose line from the north first reached the town in 1846. The Newcastle and Berwick Railway meanwhile reached the southern bank of the River Tweed in March 1847, but it was another eighteen months before a temporary viaduct across the river was commissioned to allow through running between Edinburgh and Newcastle. This in turn was replaced by the current Royal Border Bridge in July 1850. The station was rebuilt by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1927 and the buildings are Grade-II listed. The station was also at one time served by local stopping trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh and the branch line from Newtown St Boswells via Kelso from 1851 until closure in 1964. For approximately 5 months in 1979, this was the terminus for services from London King's Cross after the East Coast Main Line was blocked by the collapse of Penmanshiel Tunnel. Buses linked this station with Dunbar, from where a railway shuttle service continued to Edinburgh Waverley.
Facilities
The station has a council-run car park nearby, and is staffed throughout the week during working hours. Several self-service ticket machines are available for use outside these times and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Other facilities on offer on the concourse include a waiting room, Costa coffee shop, vending machine, payphone and toilets, whilst there is a First Class lounge on the platform. The two are linked by a fully accessible footbridge with lifts. Train running information is offered via digital CIS displays, audible announcements and timetable posters.
Services
operate an hourly service that stops here. They go southbound to London Kings Cross calling at, and en route. In the other direction, there are services to Edinburgh with a few extensions to and one extension per day to each of, Stirling and Inverness. CrossCountry operates a two-hourly service in each direction during the day with most going north to Glasgow. In the southbound direction there are services to via and Birmingham New Street with a couple of extensions per day to and also a daily service to. From December 2019, one TransPennine Express service in each direction began to call at Berwick-upon-Tweed.
