It is 13 miles 41 chains (21.7 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Romford and Harold Wood.

The station, constructed in a cutting, was opened as Squirrels Heath & Gidea Park on 1 December 1910 by the Great Eastern Railway on that company's main line out of London Liverpool Street.

1602 Walsingham, passed a signal at danger and collided with a stopping service bound for Southend Victoria as it started to depart from Gidea Park on the country-bound main line.

[7] In 2017, new Class 345 trains began entering service as Crossrail partially opened under the TfL Rail brand.

New lifts, signage, help points, customer information screens and CCTV were installed and the footbridge and carriage-sidings refurbished.