The station is operated by Northern Trains and is situated 27 miles (43 km) north-west of Leeds; it is located on Broughton Road.

[2] Initially, passengers would leave the train at Skipton for onward travel to the villages of Wharfedale by horse-drawn coach.

[5] The next year, the "little" North Western Railway opened a line from Skipton to Ingleton on 30 July 1849; this was eventually extended to Lancaster and Morecambe in 1850.

The disused formation is still visible, though the A629 bypass road occupies a short section immediately west of the former junction with the line to Carlisle & Lancaster.

[9] As part of this work, both remaining signal boxes were closed and demolished (control initially passing to Leeds PSB and eventually to the IECC at York) and the former goods yard was converted for use as a carriage depot, complete with a new washer plant.

[22] Major alterations were made to the station when the 2011 Eureka EC clock-face timetable came into effect,[23] including a northbound Sundays-only service from the capital.

Ticket barriers are in operation and a Penalty fare scheme was implemented on the Airedale Line routes in December 2017.

There are three seated waiting rooms available, luggage trolleys, a small café, toilets, a post box and a pay-phone.

There is a taxi rank immediately outside the station, bus links nearby and the car park has spaces for 100 vehicles.