The area is named after the custom house of Royal Victoria Dock. The original Custom House station was opened in 1855, by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway (ECTJR) line which was built to link the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford with the developing London docks of the mid-nineteenth century. The ECTJR was formally absorbed by the ECR in 1847. By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway was formed by amalgamation. Thus Custom House became a GER station in 1862. Following nationalisation in 1948 Custom House became part of British Railways (Eastern Region). Passenger numbers fell during the 1950s and 1960s as the docks declined and car ownership grew. Eventually the service was reduced to a shuttle between Stratford (Low Level) platforms and North Woolwich generally operated by two car DMUs.
Following privatisation of the railways in 1994 the track through Custom House became the responsibility of Railtrack whilst train operations became the part of North London Railways (part of National Express) on 3 March 1997. This company was rebranded to become Silverlink in September of that year. The adjacent Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station opened on 28 March 1994 as part of the extension to Beckton. It is linked to the main entrance of the ExCeL Exhibition Centre by an overhead walkway, which also connects to the Royal Victoria Dock Bridge, spanning the Royal Victoria Dock to its southern side. It is the principal public transport access to the ExCeL Exhibition Centre and its adjacent complex of hotels, restaurants and bars. Crossrail's Abbey Wood branch will reuse the original trackbed of the ECTJR and will be located on the site of the former station.
Connections: London Buses routes 147, 241, 325 and 678 and night route N551 serve the station.