It is 39 miles 44 chains (63.65 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Rochford and Prittlewell.

The station is managed by London Southend Airport but the trains serving it are operated by Greater Anglia.

In June 2011, National Express East Anglia trains began stopping at the station, but passengers were initially not permitted to get off.

[2][3][1] The station was designed by Atkins and constructed by Birse Rail; it was opened by the Transport Minister Theresa Villiers in 2011.

Glyn Jones, chief executive of Stobart Aviation, proposed in 2018 that Crossrail should be extended to Southend Airport to alleviate capacity problems at Heathrow.