The station is situated on the South West Main Line, 140 miles 31 chains (225.9 km) from London Waterloo and on the Heart of Wessex Line, 166 miles 30 chains (267.8 km) from London Paddington.

[1] The first station near this location, simply named Upwey, was opened in 1871 by the Great Western Railway (GWR).

The branch was absorbed into the GWR and survived for 66 years before closure under British Railways in 1952.

Rubble from the rebuilt Weymouth station was used to fill in the former Abbotsbury platform for use as a car park.

However its name was changed to Upwey as it kept being confused with Broadway, Worcestershire, also on the Great Western Railway.