It is 43 miles 24 chains (69.68 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Althorne to the west and Southminster to the east.

The line and station were opened on 1 June 1889 for goods and on 1 October 1889 for passenger services by the Great Eastern Railway.

[1] A 24-lever signal box was located on the north of the line to the west of the station; this was closed on 21 January 1967.

[1] When sectorisation was introduced, Burnham-on-Crouch was managed by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail.

All services at Burnham-on-Crouch are operated by Greater Anglia using Class 720 electric multiple units.