The station is on the Maidstone line, 39 miles 76 chains (64.3 km) from London Victoria, and is served by trains operated by Southeastern.

Consequently, it was built on a restricted site across from a 113-foot (34 m) high-level bridge over the river, immediately before entering the 98-yard (90 m) Week Street tunnel.

[3] The high-level bridge over the Medway was rebuilt in 1927, as the original could not support the full weight of locomotive traffic.

[4] A footbridge was incorporated into the new bridge, allowing a shorter route to Maidstone Barracks station.

During the 1960s, Tony Hocking was a booking clerk at the station, famous locally for invariably having a bottle of Vimto visible on the desk despite this being in contravention of the strict railway bylaws of the era.

[7] Part of the main goods yard was formerly a Royal Mail sorting office; the remainder is a car park for station users.

The station is to the east of the River Medway, but it is clear from a map of the town that it is actually located at the northern end of Maidstone.

[10] A pedestrian walkway on the railway bridge provides a route to the Medway Valley Line's Maidstone Barracks station on the west of the river.

In 2005, Network Rail announced that they were in talks with the John Lewis Partnership who intended to build a large Waitrose supermarket on the site.

[15] The station has been the site of two accidents involving freight trains: All services at Maidstone East are operated by Southeastern, using Class 375 and 377 electric multiple units.