The branch remains open for freight traffic, as well as for a small number of reversing trains at peak times (which terminate at Newhaven Harbour) and for special excursion services.

[8] The first station to serve cross-Channel traffic, adjacent to the ferry terminal, was named Newhaven Wharf which opened with the line from Lewes on 8 December 1847.

[9][11] The line was electrified by the Southern Railway, with work completed on 16 July 1947, with regular electric boat train services from London Victoria beginning on 15 May 1949.

[12][13] Newhaven Marine had regular services from Victoria with connections for ferry passengers travelling to Dieppe in France.

[7][a] Attention was brought to the situation by a BBC Radio 4 programme in October 2010, The Ghost Trains of Old England,[17] and the station became well known among railway enthusiasts for its unusual status.

[23] On 15 January 2020, the Department for Transport (DfT) opened a formal public consultation to close the station, citing this reason.

It further stated the work required to rebuild and repair the station to modern standards, including closed-circuit television, information points and toilets, would cost over £600,000 and provide no perceivable benefit for the community.

[25] Former parliamentary under-secretary of state for the DfT and local member of parliament for Lewes, Norman Baker, said the 14-year delay to formally close the station was "a joke", sarcastically suggesting that Network Rail could re-open it as "Newhaven Rubble".