The station sits atop an embankment about 40 feet (12 m) high,[1] and spans the main road between the settlements of Backwell and Nailsea, which narrows to a signal-controlled single lane to go under the railway.

The line runs on a slight curve through the station, at an angle of roughly 067 degrees,[5] and has a linespeed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h).

[11][12] Sunday sees roughly one train per hour, with services again alternating between Bristol Parkway to Weston-super-Mare and Cardiff to Taunton, with two services to and from the Severn Beach Line: during summer months these terminate at Severn Beach; the rest of the year only one does, the other terminating at Avonmouth.

[20] Occasional Great Western Railway intercity services between London and Weston-super-Mare or Taunton and Exeter also pass through non-stop.

Opened as "Nailsea", it was for a while the first station on the line west of Bristol, the next being Clevedon Road (which was renamed Yatton in 1847).

[23] Due to its being built on an embankment, lightweight building materials were used for the station: the platforms originally rested on timber supports for most of their length.

Station buildings, including a goods shed and a combined ticket office and waiting room, were built on the eastbound platform in the 1860s.

[Note 3] British Rail was split into business-led sectors in the 1980s, at which time operations at Nailsea & Backwell passed to Regional Railways.

Local services were franchised to Wales & West when the railway was privatised in 1997,[29] which was in turn succeeded by Wessex Trains, an arm of National Express, in 2001.

[34] Extra seating was provided in 2006 following action by the Severnside Community Rail Partnership,[35] and in 2008 overgrown foliage was cleared from the car park to improve sightlines and help with security.

That peak passengers filled the car park then meant there are no spaces for offpeak users, limiting leisure travel.

[39][41][42][43][44] Work began in January 2014, and was completed in June the same year - 162 additional car parking spaces were created, drainage was improved and CCTV was installed.

The scheme, which cost £700,000, came in £50,000 under budget and was paid for using money from the Local Transport Plan and Community Infrastructure Levy.

[52][53] The group Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways supports the electrification of the line through Nailsea & Backwell,[54][55] as does MP for Weston-super-Mare John Penrose.

[58] The 2017 West of England Joint Spatial Plan suggested that facilities and access to the station be improved to create a multimodal interchange with the Bristol MetroBus scheme, a link to the A370 Long Ashton Bypass and potentially to the M5 motorway at Clevedon.

On 20 September 2002, the 19:40 First Great Western service from Plymouth to Gloucester was delayed at Nailsea & Backwell at around 22:00 after the British Transport Police were called to deal with two men who assaulted a guard following an altercation about smoking in a non-smoking area.

[61] A 17-year-old from Weston-super-Mare was due in court on 23 December 2009 in connection with the incident, having been identified by the use of DNA swab kits, which are available to all Great Western Railway staff.

[62] A more unusual incident occurred on 18 September 2013 when a cow escaped from a nearby field and found its way onto the tracks at the station, causing several hours of delays to services between Bristol and Exeter.

[63][64][65] A serious incident occurred on 17 October 2004, when Wessex Trains Class 143 Pacer DMU number 143613, forming the 20:06 2W63 service from Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-super-Mare with unit number 143621, caught fire between the site of the former station at Flax Bourton and Nailsea & Backwell.

[66] The line through Nailsea was closed until 03:30 the following morning, when the train was hauled to St Philips Marsh Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot for examination.

[69] The Rail Safety and Standards Board issued a report into the incident, concluding that the fire was caused by electrical arcing between the live starter motor cable (which had damaged insulation) and the unit's underframe, causing accumulated oily residues to ignite.