The station, which opened in 1903, is managed by ScotRail and lies on the Neilston branch of the Cathcart Circle Lines.

Though the line carried freight and express boat trains from Adrossan to Glasgow Central, Muirend was only ever served by local suburban workings.

A connection was laid in south of the station down to the Busby Railway at Clarkston around the same time as the L&AR main line was opened, but it was never used for through traffic (only for wagon storage) and was disconnected by 1907 (though the brick viaduct it used still stands to this day),[3] and only the crossover underneath the road bridge immediately south of the station remains of the kilometre long branch.

British Rail and SPTE proposals published in the early 1980s would have seen the Clarkston spur reopened and used by re-routed trains to/from East Kilbride, which would have then run to Glasgow Central via Cathcart and Queens Park.

The scheme would also have seen the East Kilbride branch electrified, but the Clarkston to Busby Junction section closed (along with Patterton and Neilston stations, with the line cut back to Whitecraigs).