The station was opened in 1859 on the Cannock Mineral Railway's line from to and taken over by the London and North Western Railway a decade later. It closed to passengers on 18 January 1965 and to goods traffic on 6 September the same year as a result of the Beeching Axe, though the line that passed through remained in use for goods & mineral traffic, serving the power station at Rugeley and various local collieries. The station reopened in 1989 by British Rail, as the terminus of the first stage of the reopening of the Chase Line from Walsall to passenger trains. At first, there was just a single platform ; however when services were extended to Rugeley Town in 1997, a second platform was added. There is no ticket office so the Penalty fare scheme operates at the station, and passengers must buy a ticket or permit to travel from the machines at the station to avoid paying the £20 surcharge. Although it is not in the county, Hednesford operates a free travel for Concessionary Bus Pass holders which means it is the only out of county station of the West Midlands County to be part of the West Midlands Trains free travel zone. It comes under Zone 5 of the West Midlands Railway Network. It has been in place since the introduction of the scheme but is the only station to operate this scheme as Cannock, Landywood and Rugeley do not operate in the same zone.
Services
Service frequencies vary. On weekdays there are typically two trains per hour to Walsall and Birmingham at peak times and one train per hour during the off peak period and in the evenings. There are two trains per hour throughout the day on Saturdays with an hourly evening service. Trains operate between Birmingham New Street and Rugeley Trent Valley where connections to Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe are available. On Sundays there is an hourly service throughout the day after 10am. Most services are operated by Class 350electric trains and journey times are typically 21 minutes to Walsall and 45 minutes to Birmingham New Street. A small number of services to/from London Euston, Birmingham New Street or Walsall start or terminate here.
