[note 1] The station is operated by South Western Railway, which provides express and semi-fast services between London Waterloo and Weymouth.

[1] The first Poole station was sited on the western side of Holes Bay, at the location that ultimately became Hamworthy Goods.

This was the Poole station that Somerset & Dorset trains reached originally over London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) tracks, after reversing at Wimborne.

This was inconvenient for access to the town centre and so the L&SWR interest built a railway to reach Poole itself from a new junction at what is now Broadstone, opening on 2 December 1872.

The original New Poole station buildings were built on the London-bound platform, close to the site of Towngate Bridge which replaced a level crossing in 1971.

Trains from London terminating at the station regularly use platform 1 before moving to the empty stock sidings further west and reversing for the return service.

[3] Under the station name signs on the platforms are additional boards informing passengers that Poole is the home of Bournemouth University, the main campus of which is located in the Talbot Village area of the borough.