Located in the south of the city near Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport, it serves as the terminus for passenger rail services on the new Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, which runs southwards from Nagad Railway Station towards the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The new passenger rail station replaces the old and now decommissioned Djibouti City Railway Station, which served as the terminus of the now-abandoned metre-gauge Ethio-Djibouti Railway.

Nagad Railway Station also handles freight trains.

January 2017, both the railway station and the 100 km (62 mi) section of the railway on Djibouti territory were inaugurated in a ceremony held in the new station by Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Ethiopia's prime minister Hailemariam Dessalegn.

[1][2] It was originally expected that passenger services from Nagad Railway Station start three months after the official inauguration in January 2017, but passenger trains running on schedule haven't been observed ever since (as of end of June 2017).