The station is 44 miles 72 chains (72.3 km) from London Kings Cross on the Cambridge Line.

The station is an important stop on the commuter line between King's Cross and Cambridge as the majority of semi-fast services between London and Cambridge stop at Royston - one exception being the 'Cambridge Cruiser' fast services from London.

The station was opened by the Royston and Hitchin Railway in October 1850 as its initial eastern terminus.

The line was subsequently extended as far as Shepreth the following year and through to Cambridge by the Eastern Counties Railway in 1852.

[2] Network SouthEast commissioned the electrification from Royston to Cambridge as a 'fill-in' scheme to link the wired routes either side (the ex-ECR main line electrification north of Bishops Stortford had been inaugurated the previous year).