The station opened on 1 March 1863, on the London, Chatham and Dover Railway original double-track low-level route from Victoria via Stewarts Lane, which was opened between Victoria and Herne Hill, on 25 August 1862.
Until 8 December 2012 Wandsworth Road was served by a twice-hourly Southern service between London Victoria and London Bridge. This was replaced by London Overground's service between Clapham Junction and Highbury & Islington.
Wandworth Road had its own parliamentary train until 2013. Parliamentary trains, however infrequent, are run to keep a line legally open even though they are not generally used by passengers- in this case a daily early morning from Kensington Olympia to Wandsworth Road.
To provide a service between Kensington Olympia and Ealing Broadway, a Tuesdays-only coach service was operated between the latter and Wandsworth Road, which last run on 11 June 2013.