It is 16 miles 2 chains (25.8 km) down the line from London Fenchurch Street and it is situated between Rainham to the west and Grays to the east.

This route made use of a number of worked out chalk pits some of which had early tramways down to wharves on the River Thames.

In 1914 a large army camp was established north of the station and as a result Purfleet got extended booking and luggage storage facilities on the up side.

During the 1930s the LMS were considering four tracking east of Purfleet and land was set aside on the down (north) side of the line to accommodate this.

[9] After World War II started there were significant cuts to passenger services on the line in the timetable of 25 September 1939.

As part of a development involving up to 3000 new homes, there are plans to re-site, rename and upgrade the railway station.

The ticket office is to be moved overhead rather than to the side of the station and lifts and a new footbridge are proposed as well as a new larger car park and future space for retail.

Commuting was the preserve of the well paid and on the LT&SR they were based in Southend and Gravesend (which they accessed via Tilbury station and ferries.

[20] As of the June 2024 timetable the typical Monday to Friday off-peak service is:[21] East of the station there were a number of Private Occupation Crossings connected to some of the industrial concerns along the route which were worked by company staff.

On 18 February 1924 a motorist was killed on the Thames Board Mill crossing due to (road) driver error.

Because the railway was close to the River Thames at this point a number of private sidings and terminals existed in the area.

In 1930 the Ebano Oil Company opened a line west of the station that connected from the goods yard and joined the former chalk pit route to the wharf.

As late as 1962 Powell Duffryn had a siding that ran from the goods yard built to supply a tank farm in a disused chalk pit.

There are two out of use sidings - Thames Matex and the Van Den Burghs, [26][Note 3] Purfleet Freight Terminal is the closest Roll-on/Roll-off (RORO) ferry port to London.

Operated by C.RO Ports, the 92-acre (37 ha) combined freight terminal handles 250,000 lorry trailers and ISO containers and tanks per year, and via a dedicated Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) facility, the import/export of 400,000 vehicles.

There are four railway sidings on site, accessed via the London, Tilbury and Southend line to allow direct unloading/loading from ferry or lorry to rail.