The station was opened on 27 March 1871 by the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway. The station closed on 7 November 1966, however it reopened on 5 June 1967. In April 2007 a 'Ticket Issuing Machine' was installed in recognition of the relatively high passenger levels. Operations to reinstate a second line between Lochridge Junction near Stewarton and Lugton started in 2008. During the upgrade work, a bridge crossing the A735 road south of the station collapsed as an oil train was passing over it, resulting in several tank wagons in the consist derailing and catching fire. No-one was hurt in the accident; the line was closed between Barrhead and Kilmarnock for three weeks whilst the tankers were recovered and the damaged bridge rebuilt. When the work was completed in September 2009, the second platform was reinstated, the pedestrian underpass re-opened and full disabled access provided. An overspill car park opened on 31 January 2012, accessed from platform 2. Stewarton opened for goods traffic on 23 March 1871 and closed on 5 October 1964. It handled general goods as well as livestock and horseboxes. The station lay 19.02 miles south of the old terminus, Glasgow Saint Enoch. The station has been adopted by the staff and clients of Hansel Village near Symington and they also maintain the displays of planted flowers on the platforms.
Services
2008/09
The station had a basic hourly service each way to Glasgow and, with some southbound trains continuing to either or and Stranraer.
From December 2009
Since 13 December 2009 the station has had a basic half-hourly service each way to Glasgow and ; some trains run as express services from non-stop to/from Glasgow Central in the May 2016 timetable. The Sunday service is hourly and now serves local stations beyond Barrhead northbound. Some southbound trains continue to either, Newcastle, or and Stranraer. A ticket machine is located on Platform 2. From December 2012 all trains on a Sunday use Platform 1 only as does the 5.31am Glasgow bound weekday train.
2016 floods
In January 2016 a number of Virgin Trains were re-routed via Kilmarnock due to flood damage to a bridge on the Glasgow to Carlisle main line near Lockerbie. The full regular half-hourly service was suspended for a time and replaced with an hourly during off peak times.
