Lagyna railway station

The station lies on the line, built by the Chemins de fer Orientaux (CO), from Istanbul to Vienna. The railway reached Lagyna during Ottoman rule, when in 1873, when the line from Istanbul to Edirne and Bulgaria was opened.[4] A 112 km branch from Pythio to Alexandroupoli (then known as Dedeağaç) was opened in 1874. When the railway was built it was all within the Ottoman Empire. After World War I and the subsequent Greek-Turkish War from 1919 to 1922, and finally peace in the form of the Lausanne treaty, the Chemins de fer Orientaux (CO) ended up having a network straddling Turkey and Greece, Didymoteicho became part of Greece and the line administrated by Greece.

In 1920 it became part Hellenic State Railways. In late 1970 the Hellenic State Railways was reorganised.[5] On 31 December 1970 Hellenic State Railways ceased to existed, the following day all railways in Greece (with the exception of private industrial lines and E.I.S.) were transferred to Hellenic Railways Organisation S.A., a state-owned corporation, responsible for most for Greece’s rail infrastructure and passenger services.

In the 1990s, OSE introduced the InterCity service to the Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad line[6] 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 where cutback and routs closed, as the government-run entity attempted to reduce overheads. Services from Orestiada to Alexandroupoli were cut back to three trains a day, reducing the reliability of services, and passenger numbers. On 13 February 2011, due to the Greek financial crisis and subsequent budget cuts by the Greek government, all international services were suspended. As a result, all cross border routs where closed and international services (to Istanbul, Sofia, etc.) ended.[7] Thus, only two routes now connect Didymoteicho with Thessaloniki and Athens (and those with a connection to Alex / Polis), while route time increased as the network was "upgraded".[8]

In 2014 TrainOSE replaced services to/from Dikaia with buses[9] In 2017 OSE’s passenger transport sector was privatised as TrainOSE, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane[10] infrastructure, including stations remained under the control of OSE.

The original station buildings are rundown and almost abandoned. As of (2020) station is unstaffed.

As of 2020, Lagyna is only serviced by four daily pairs of Regional trains Alexandroupoli–Ormenio, two of which are express services.[11]

Between July 2005 and February 2011[12] the Friendship Express (an international InterCity train jointly operated by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and TrainOSE linking Istanbul's Sirkeci Terminal, Turkey and Thessaloniki, Greece) passed through Lagyna, but did not call at the station.