The station is situated in fare zone 1 and is located near the South Bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

[8] The W&CR, nicknamed "The Drain",[9] achieved in a limited way the L&SWR's original plan of taking its tracks the short distance north-east into the City of London.

[21] The Waterloo & City line was closed for 2 months in 1993 to be upgraded with new trains and the four rail electrical system of the London Underground.

[22] The ownership of the line was transferred from Network SouthEast to the Underground on 1 April 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail.

Opening in September 1999, the new Jubilee line station was designed by in-house JLE Project Architects, overseen by Roland Paoletti.

The sculpture was purchased by London Underground, having been originally commissioned in 2000 as part of its Platform for Art programme and set up at Gloucester Road tube station.

[28][29] As part of the redevelopment of the Shell Centre into "Southbank Place" by Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar, the existing York Road entrance was closed in 2015 to be completely rebuilt.

Elizabeth House, located directly adjacent to the mainline railway station, is being redeveloped by HB Reavis.