It is 114 miles 77 chains (185 km) down the main line (measured via Ipswich) from London Liverpool Street, the western terminus.

East Midlands Railway operates the services to Liverpool Lime Street via Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly.

Norwich Victoria was the terminus for some passenger services from London until 1916, as well as being a goods station until its demolition in the 1970s.

Norwich City was the terminus of the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway line from Melton Constable until it was closed to passengers in 1959.

The YNR's Act of Parliament of 18 June 1842 authorised the issue of £200,000 worth of shares to build a line between the two towns, via Reedham and the Yare valley.

[3] On 18 May 1844, 17 days after the Y&NR started running train services, Parliament gave the Royal Assent to the Norwich & Brandon Railway (N&BR).

On 30 June 1845, a Bill authorising the amalgamation of the Y&NR with the N&BR came into effect and Norwich station became a Norfolk Railway asset.

[4] The N&BR line arrived at the station on 15 December 1845, which offered a route to Shoreditch in London via Cambridge and Bishop's Stortford.

The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the Norfolk Railway, including Norwich Station, on 8 May 1848.

[11] During the late 1950s, steam locomotives were phased out across the East Anglian network and replaced by diesel-powered trains.

On 1 April 1994, under the Railways Act 1993, ownership of the station passed to a new private company, Railtrack, which was transferred to the state-controlled non-profit Network Rail in October 2002 after experiencing financial difficulties.

The typical off-peak service frequency (Monday to Saturday) is: Norwich engine shed was located to the south west of the station.

This depot closed in 1982 and was replaced by a new facility at Crown Point which, in 2015, is responsible for the maintenance of the main line electric fleet and local diesel multiple units.

[15] Children's author Arthur Ransome set the opening paragraph of Coot Club (1934) at Norwich Thorpe station.