The station is 6¼ miles (10 km) south-west of Derby on the Cross Country Route.

The original station was opened in 1839 by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway on its original route from Derby to Hampton-in-Arden, meeting the London and Birmingham Railway for London.

It was planned as part of the Ivanhoe line which would run through to Loughborough, but as of 2024[update] this has yet to come to fruition.

During their franchise, East Midlands Trains ran a couple of semi-fast services from Burton upon Trent to London St Pancras.

Services operate several times each day in each direction northbound to Nottingham via Derby and southbound to Cardiff Central via Birmingham New Street, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucester and Newport, running a primarily structured two-hourly service from around 07:00 to around 15:00.