It is located on the Shotts Line, 17 miles (28 km) west of Edinburgh Waverley on the way to Glasgow Central.

[4][3] Pedestrian ingress onto and egress from either platform, without using stairs or lifts, is possible via tarmac ramp connecting to the pavement of a traffic bridge.

Since the December 2009 timetable change, the station is currently served, Monday to Saturday, by one ScotRail all-stops service each hour between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley.

There is also a semi-fast service between the two cities each hour which calls (this otherwise stops only at Haymarket, Livingston South, Shotts and Bellshill).

[5] The timetable featured a limited Sunday service of one train every two hours from this station to Edinburgh until December 2012; at the timetable change that year a two-hourly Sunday service between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley was introduced which remains in operation as of May 2016.