The station is situated on the Dunfermline Branch of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway, just west of its divergence from the E&NR main line via a triangular junction. It is a completely new structure, having been built by British Rail with the support of Fife Regional Council to serve the two communities that it is named after. Glenrothes had never previously had its own station whilst Thornton had lost its station on the main line inOctober 1969 in the aftermath of the Beeching Axe. The successful inauguration of the FifeCircle Line service in 1989 had seen the Cardenden to Thornton Jn section reopened to passengers and this provided the catalyst for the construction of the station. It was completed in the spring of 1992 and it was opened to traffic on 11 May that year, at the summer timetable change. Though it has the appearance of a standard two platform station on a double track line, it is actually sited east of Thornton West Junction, where the double line from Cardenden splits into two parallel single lines that diverge after passing through the station to join the main line. One of these runs southwards to Thornton South Junction and is used by all trains to and from Edinburgh via the coast, whilst the other curves to the north and is used by trains heading for Markinch and thence to Perth or. As a consequence of this, both platforms are bi-directional but the southern one is much busier than the northern one due to the service pattern in use on the Fife Circle.
Services
On Mondays to Saturdays, there are three trains per hour to Edinburgh. The majority of services in either direction depart from Platform 1 as noted. 2 of these services run via Kirkcaldy whilst the other runs via Dumfermline, In the evenings, Trains to Edinburgh only run via Dumfermline and on Sundays, An hourly service runs to Edinburgh both via Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline, These trains use Platform 1. There is a limited service to/from Perth, As of 2018, This is as follows Monday to Fridays. There is 2 trains per day to Perth and there is also 2 trains from Perth which operate to Edinburgh via Dunfermline, 1 train per day from Edinburgh terminates here using Platform 2 but the train then goes out of service upon arriving at the station and then goes ECS. On Saturdays, There is 2 trains per day to Perth and 1 from Perth, On Sundays, There is 1 train to and 2 trains from Perth, These services use Platform 2.
