Feres railway station

The station was opened in 1874, two years after the line from Alexandroupoli (then Dedeagac) to Istanbul via Edirne was completed.[5] Built by the Chemins de fer Orientaux (CO), from Istanbul to Vienna. The railway reached Ftelia in 1873, when the line from Istanbul to Edirne and Bulgaria was opened.[6] When the railway was built it was all within the Ottoman Empire. Feres (Ottoman: Feretzik) was one of the stations on this line.[7]

Until 1909 there was no connection between the lines Istanbul–Alexandroupoli and Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli (opened in 1896) at Alexandroupoli; a connection existed between Feres and Potamos (near current Avas).[7]

During World War I the railway was an important link as the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary were all Central Allies. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, its remaining imperial possessions were divided. The sections from Alexandroupoli to Svilengrad, except for a short section of about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi)[8] in Turkey serving Edirne Karaagaç station and for 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) between the Greek border and Svilengrad station in Bulgaria[9] come under the control of the French-Hellenic Railway Company (CFFH), a subsidiary of the CO, when the CFFH was incorporated in July 1929.

Under the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923, a new border between Greece and Turkey was established at the Evros river, just east of Ftelia railway station, 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 passed through Ormenio. In Greece, a line was opened to allow trains from Pythio to Bulgaria to stay on Greek territory and avoid Edirne. In 1954 the CFFH was absorbed by the Hellenic State Railways. In 1971, the Hellenic State Railways was reorganised into the OSE [10] taking over responsibilities for most for Greece's rail infrastructure. In the 1990s, OSE introduced the InterCity service to the Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad line[11] Which reduced travel times across the whole line.

In 2009, with the Greek debt crisis unfolding OSE's Management was forced to reduce services across the network. Timetables were cutback and routes closed, as the government-run entity attempted to reduce overheads. Services from Feres to Alexandroupoli were cut back to three trains a day, reducing the reliability of services, and passenger numbers. With passenger footfall in sharp decline. On 11 February 2011, all cross border routes were closed and international services (to Istanbul, Sofia, etc.) were ended. Thus, only two routes now connect Feres with Thessaloniki and Athens (and those with a connection to Alex / Polis), while route time increased as the network was "upgraded".[12] Services to/from Ormenio were replaced by bus. In 2014 TrainOSE replaced services to/from Dikaia with buses[13]

In 2017 OSE's passenger transport sector was privatised as TrainOSE, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane[14] infrastructure, including stations remained under the control of OSE.

As of 2020, the station is only served by two daily pairs of regional trains Alexandroupoli–Ormenio.[15]