The new London Overground line names and colours were introduced across the London rail network in November 2024 The station was opened by the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway (W&RR) on 1 October 1862, with services running from Watford Junction to Rickmansworth (Church Street).

After nationalisation in 1948, the Watford DC line was run by British Rail (from 1986 under its Network SouthEast brand).

At the height of operation around the 1950s, Watford High Street was served by the Bakerloo line, and by British Rail trains on both the Croxley Green and Rickmansworth branches, a local all-stations service to Euston and another local service to Broad Street via Primrose Hill.

[3] On 24 September 1982, London Transport cut back the Bakerloo line to run only as far north as Stonebridge Park (reinstating the service as far as Harrow & Wealdstone in 1984).

It is on the Lioness line of the network and operates with a frequency of four trains per hour, approximately every fifteen minutes from Monday to Sunday.

Other services to alternate destinations operate from Watford town centre bus stops, which are a short distance from the station.