It is located southwest of downtown Auburn and consists of two train platforms, a bus station, a parking garage, a public plaza, and a pedestrian bridge.

The station's two side platforms run north–south along a triple-track segment of the BNSF Railway's Seattle Subdivision and are connected by an at-grade crossing on Main Street.

[1] Sound Transit commissioned three pieces of art for the station through their public art program: Bruce West's sculptures Standing Pear & Friends and Strawberry Duo in the plaza represent the city's agricultural history through halved pears and strawberries; and a series of metal vines by Jean Whitesavage and Nick Lyle hang on the corner of the parking garage and personify "luxuriant growth".

[9][10] Auburn, initially named Slaughter, received its first staffed train station in October 1889 on the Puget Sound Shore Railroad, part of the Northern Pacific Railway.

[22][23] The Downtown Auburn site near Main Street was identified in 1994 as the city's preferred location for a commuter rail station, along with an alternative on the Union Pacific Railroad near the Supermall.

[25] The location of Auburn station was approved by the Sound Transit Board in March 1998 and a design contract with Anil Verma Associates was signed in August.

[37] The 2008 measure was passed by voters and allocated $30 million for a new garage,[43] but the project was deferred in 2010 due to a decline in sales tax revenue collected by Sound Transit.

[51] King County Metro's routes 180, 181, and 186 connect the station to Green River College, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Kent, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.

King County Metro also runs several dial-a-ride routes from the station to Algona, Pacific, Enumclaw, northern Auburn, and The Outlet Collection Seattle (formerly the Supermall).

[51][52] Pierce Transit's Route 497 is a shuttle between the station and a park and ride in the Lakeland Hills neighborhood, with timed connections to Sounder trains.