It is on the Great Northern route that forms part of the East Coast Main Line, 4 miles 4 chains (6.5 km) down the line from London King's Cross, and is situated between Harringay to the south and Alexandra Palace to the north.

The station is managed by Great Northern on behalf of Network Rail, and is adjacent to the Hornsey train maintenance depot.

Under plans approved in 1897, the station was to be served by the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR), a tube railway supported by the GNR which would have run underground beneath the GNR's tracks from Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park and then into central London.

The GN&SR route and stations north of Finsbury Park were cancelled in 1902 when the GN&SR was taken over by Charles Yerkes' consortium which planned to merge it with the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway to form the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith (now part of the London Underground's Piccadilly line).

The station is also served by a small number of peak hour services between Moorgate and Gordon Hill.