The Severn Beach Line declined over the latter half of the twentieth century, with passenger numbers falling significantly.

[4] There is a single 130-yard (120 m)-long platform which serves trains in both directions, situated on the north side of the track and angled at 062 degrees.

Services previously ran every 40 minutes in each direction but were increased to half-hourly in the December 2021 timetable change.

There was not initially a station at Redland, but there was local support, with several petitions submitted to the line's Joint Railway Committee.

The Bristol Chamber of Commerce petitioned for a station in 1892, but the committee again rejected the request, stating that estimated traffic levels would not justify the expense.

[5] Construction of the station was complicated by the need to keep the line open: trains ferrying materials were unable to stay on-site for long, and frequently had to switch from one track to the other, necessitating trips to nearby Montpelier railway station, where the nearest crossover points were located.

In September 1899, a Midland Railway-style signal box was opened at the east end of the northern platform.

Bristol Temple Meads was the city's major station, where passengers could change for trains to London, Exeter and Wales, among others.

Staff were withdrawn completely on 17 July 1967, a fate shared by most of the other stations on the Severn Beach Line.

The southern running line was lifted on 19 October 1970, and the adjacent platform abandoned and its shelter demolished.

[5] British Rail was split into business-led sectors in the 1980s, at which time operations at Redland passed to Regional Railways.

It was the line that got bus substitution whenever they were short of trains or queues, when a rugby match in Cardiff needed a special.

It has a problem in that the route is slow and not very direct; for years it was invisible, short of marketing and lacking a regular interval timetable.

[16] When the railway was privatised in 1997, local services were franchised to Wales & West,[17] which was succeeded by Wessex Trains, an arm of National Express, in 2001.

[18] Following action by Friends of Severn Beach Railway (FOSBR) and a string of protests, services had increased to 10 per day in each direction by 2005,[5] with Bristol City Council providing a subsidy to Wessex Trains.

[26] Passenger numbers at Redland were further boosted by a marketing campaign by the Severnside Community Rail Partnership to attract more people, especially students, to use the station.

[7] It was decorated in 2009 by students from Fairfield School, who created a mural of Victorian characters with incongruous details such as mobile phones, sunglasses and funny hats.

[28] Customer help points with next train information screens were installed during 2008/09, paid for by money from the Department for Transport's "Access for All" fund and local councils.

[47] The group Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways supports the electrification of the entire Severn Beach Line.

[49][50] There is an aspiration for half-hourly services, with trains towards Bristol terminating alternately at Portishead and Bath Spa, however due to the large sections of the Severn Beach Line which are single-track and to the congested main line from Temple Meads, such frequency is not currently feasible.

[51][52] The scheme was given the go-ahead in July 2012 as part of the City Deal, whereby local councils would be given greater control over money by the government.

[53] There are also calls for the reopening of the Henbury Loop Line, which could allow a direct service from Redland to Bristol Parkway via Avonmouth.