It is 12 miles 53 chains (20.4 km) down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between Chislehurst and Orpington stations.

It has four platform faces on islands located between the slow and fast pairs of tracks.

The station was built on the main line to the north of Orpington and opened on 9 July 1928, initially as a single island platform, with the first tickets printed showing the name as Pett's Wood.

[3] Off peak, all services at Petts Wood are operated by Southeastern using Class 376, 465, 466 and 707 EMUs.

From the December 2024 timetable change the off-peak service between London Victoria and Orpington doubled to 4tph on Mondays to Fridays.