City station is a stop towards the northern end of the Cross-City Line, 17+1⁄4 miles (27.8 km) north-east of Birmingham New Street.

The station opened in 1849, on the South Staffordshire Railway's line from Lichfield Trent Valley to Walsall and Dudley.

The architect for the South Staffordshire Railway was Mr Edward Adams of London and the station building built in 1849 was a modest creation in a Tudor style, with tall gables and chimneys.

[2] Services to Birmingham began in 1884, when a branch to Sutton Coldfield opened, connecting with an earlier LNWR line.

[3] The line to Walsall closed subsequently to all traffic in March 1984, except for the section as far as Anglesey sidings (near Hammerwich), which was retained to serve a Charringtons oil terminal.

In June 1990, the station was in the news after a trainee soldier, William Robert Davies, aged 19, was shot and killed by two Provisional IRA gunmen; two other new recruits were wounded, whilst they were awaiting a train to Birmingham.

A short-term option may be a diesel shuttle service, with longer-term ambitions to electrify the line and provide stations at Barton Under Needwood and Alrewas.