The station is the rebuilt Dundee Tay Bridge railway station, which had been built by the North British Railway in 1878 as part of the Tay Rail Bridge project. It was originally one of three main stations in Dundee, along with Dundee West station, the Caledonian Railway station for Perth which was rebuilt in 1889-1890 and closed in the 1960s, and Dundee East station on the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway which closed in 1959. It is located in cutting at the south end of Camperdown tunnel, which passes beneath the town's former docks (now filled in) and required permanent pumping to keep dry. The station is consequently sited below sea level.