Providing service for only the Blue Line, the station is located at South Van Dorn Street and Eisenhower Avenue, next to the Capital Beltway.

In June 1977, the city of Alexandria, Southern Railway, and the United Parcel Service reached an agreement allowing for Metro to retain the air rights for the construction of the Van Dorn station when funding became available.

[2] After years of planning, in March 1987 Metro awarded a $32.3 million contract to complete the station by 1991 to Dillingham Construction of Pleasanton, California.

[7] On June 25, 2017, Yellow Line trains stopped serving the station due to the elimination of Rush+, which is part of major changes to the Metrorail system.

[14] The station has an island platform situated between Eisenhower Avenue and the RF&P Subdivision tracks, which carry Virginia Railway Express and Amtrak trains.