Middlesbrough station serves the town of Middlesbrough, and is one of two stations on the Tees Valley Line managed by TransPennine Express.

Middlesbrough is an major hub on the Tees Valley Line allowing for onward connections towards Nunthorpe and Whitby on the Esk Valley Line, connections to Stockton-On-Tees, Hartlepool, Sunderland, Newcastle via the Durham Coast Line, West Bound TransPennine Express Services to Yarm, Northallerton, Leeds, and beyond to Manchester Airport, and there is a daily LNER Azuma Service to London Kings Cross. Northern and Transpennine Express provide East Bound Services from Middlesbrough. Northern Services run twice hourly (hourly on a Sunday) calling at all stations to Saltburn - due to the closure of the footbridge at South Bank this station is currently ommitted and a bus replacement service running every hour runs between Middlesbrough - South Bank - Redcar Central. Transpennine Express provide an hourly service through to to Redcar Central with 3 services a day extending to/from Saltburn.

According to the Office of Rail and Road statistics, Middlesbrough railway station is the fourth busiest in the North East region, with 1,376,410 total entries and exits (2022–23 period).