The Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway (C&GWU) opened a 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad gauge line from Swindon to Gloucester on 8 July 1844, and built their station adjacent and to the north of the Birmingham and Gloucester station.

In 1847, the GWR opened the Cheltenham Loop line which completed the triangle junction east of the station.

In 1901, the Cheltenham Loop, now known as 'the Gloucester avoiding line', was re-instated, primarily for goods traffic, but also for passengers from 1908.

Even then, although the through-platforms of Gloucester Eastgate on the Bristol-Birmingham (former Midland Railway) line avoided the still-current problems with trains having to reverse direction, it was seen as a hindrance because the Tuffley Loop line had five level crossings, which caused a lot of traffic problems in town.

On New Year's Eve 2010, a fire broke out in the booking office due to arson and the ground floor was severely damaged.

In May 2013, the new booking office was reopened by Richard Graham, MP for Gloucester[8] and new lifts were installed.

Further redevelopment is being planned after complaints that the station does not give a good impression for visitors to the city.

[9] In September 2015, Gloucester Railway Station was the first to sign up to a football style card system for dealing with constant trouble makers.

The platform was lengthened as part of the 1977 rebuilding by British Rail and was intended to handle two InterCity 125 trains at the same time.

In 2018, the government approved a £3.75 million redesign of the station with the backing of GFirst and Gloucester City Council but the funds were unavailable until April 2020.