It is served by Sydney Trains' T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra Line services.

As part of the quadruplication of the Illawarra line, a second island platform was added in 1925.

[5] It is the closest station to Jubilee Oval with NSW TrainLink services from Wollongong making extra stops during St George Illawarra Dragons games.

On Sunday 21 July 2024, at around 12:15pm, it was reported that a double pram carrying twins had rolled onto the tracks, the father jumping down in an attempt to rescue them, however an oncoming train failed to stop in time and killed the 40-year-old man and one of the twins.

[6] Carlton railway station is served by two NightRide routes: