It serves the southwest part of Bromley, and is 10 miles 3 chains (16.2 km) down the line from London Victoria.

It was originally opened by the West End of London and Crystal Palace Railway on 3 May 1858.

[3] Shortlands Junction was remodelled in the 1950s to allow line speeds to be increased, and was remodelled again with the construction of Ravensbourne chord (a dive-under pair of lines) in 2002 to increase the capacity of the junction, as part of the work to enhance the existing network in conjunction with the opening of the first section of High Speed 1, the high-speed link to the Channel Tunnel.

In addition, the service to London Blackfriars is extended to and from Welwyn Garden City via Finsbury Park.

On weekends, the services between London Victoria and Orpington are reduced to two trains per hour.