Owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway, the station is also served by CrossCountry services.

The decision by the Midland Railway to have its headquarters in Derby made the town a busy node of the rail network.

The station is an interchange point between the Midland Main Line from London St Pancras to Leeds and long-distance services on the Cross Country Route from Aberdeen through Birmingham New Street to Penzance or Bournemouth (the zero milepost on the latter route is at the south end of platform 1).

The rear entrance has a pick up/drop off area, turning circle, and a short stay car park limited to 20 minutes.

After the building of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, a number of ambitious projects for long-distance lines between cities had been mooted.

It attracted interest because it provided access to Manchester through the Peak District of Derbyshire, even today an obstacle to transport.

Towards the end of the 1820s the economic climate of the country had deteriorated and many investors were waiting to see how the new Liverpool and Manchester Railway would succeed.

[2] Derby investors, naturally, favoured the scheme by the Midland Grand Junction to connect through Derby (at what was to be called the Grand Central Station) to the Cromford and High Peak Railway and thence to Manchester, since the London Northern would pass through Sandiacre some ten miles away.

In the event neither line was built; the Cromford and High Peak Railway was not ideally suited to passenger working, and an alternative via Bakewell and Chapel-en-le-Frith would encounter very difficult terrain.

The promoters of the Midland Counties Railway suggested a line linking Nottingham, Derby and Leicester, with an extension to Rugby for London.

Their original plan in 1833 had been to bring their line to Derby at Darby's Yard and Exeter Gardens, at the east side of the present Market Place, with a bridge over the Derwent.

Following Vignoles's reassessment in 1835 a new route was proposed, either north or south of the Derby Canal to a terminus near St. Mary's Bridge with a branch to Full Street near to John Lombe's Silk Mill.

One site considered was an island bounded by the River Derwent and the canal, called The Holmes, now Bass's Recreation Ground.

The selected site was further south on the west bank, Borough's Fields, in Litchurch, at the southern side of the Castlefields estate.

Whishaw[9] described it thus: The admirably contrived and elegant roofs, the spacious, the great length of the whole erection extending to upwards of a thousand feet.

These are thought to be the oldest railway workers' houses in the world, these were saved from demolition in the 1970s by local architect Derek Latham and was one of the early projects completed by the Derbyshire Historic Building Trust.

The Tri Junct Station finally opened when the North Midland line was completed to Rotherham Masborough on 11 May 1840, reaching Leeds seven weeks later.

[13] In 1858 the station was extended with extra offices, improved facilities and a porte-cochère for carriages, designed by John Holloway Saunders, the Midland Railway architect.

[14] The turntables were removed and replaced by scissors crossovers, the whole complex controlled by a signal box on the centre platform.

The station and railway workshops adjoining it were the target of a Zeppelin bombing raid during World War I, in 1916, though only slight damage was inflicted.

The line from Leeds was nevertheless busy with trains to the south west and Cornwall, and summer specials to Paignton and Torquay.

In World War II, on 15 January 1941, the station was attacked again, becoming one of the few locations in Derby to suffer significant bomb damage.

The overall roof of the train shed and platform six were severely damaged, with the loss of most of the rest of the glass, although the Victorian frontage of the station survived.

[11] Even today, the fuller name is sometimes used, including on the modern main sign (erected 1985) and on the station's electronic departures board.

The coats of arms of the Midland Railway and of the City of Derby was fixed to the frontage of the new replacement booking hall and entrance.

[25]: 1  Under the franchise agreement East Midlands Trains was required to install automatic ticket gate lines at Derby station.

[24]: 3  Derby City Council consented but required removal within 42 days should East Midlands Trains be found in non-compliance of the additional terms.

[26][27][28] The barriers must be left open if they are not staffed at both ends,[24]: 14  and ad hoc usage of the footbridge must be allowed at all other times.

[24]: 14 [29] Before the start of barrier introduction, posters and a road show were held, introducing a pass scheme for footbridge users.

[26] The pass scheme covers non-rail pedestrians and cyclists travelling "from Pride Park to central Derby or vice-versa".