The train was established by the Australian-made Preference League as a traveling exhibition to promote Australian made goods and represented around thirty manufacturers from across New South Wales.

[10] In 1956 the ACT Advisory Council sent a comprehensive report to the Minister for the Interior Allen Fairhall, which noted the station was the "worst advertisement in Canberra".

[12] The Minister for Shipping and Transport, Sir Gordon Freeth, announced in August 1965 that a new terminal building would be built in Canberra.

[16][17][18] Built at a cost of $160,000, it was intended to be another temporary solution until a new, permanent home for railway opened closer to the airport "somewhere in the Pialligo area".

[28] The current site of Canberra's railway terminal is broadly accepted to be accidental, owing to a lack of consensus and political will to agree on a suitable location.

[35] In 1965 the Commissioner for Commonwealth Railways, Keith Smith, announced that a site of about four chains (88 yards) had been set aside for a new passenger terminal to the west of Woolshed Creek in Piallago, adjacent to Majura Rd.

[14][19] The new temporary station was instead built in Kingston, with the Woolshed Creek passenger terminal site and proposed railway corridor being later used for vehicular transport following the construction of Majura Parkway, which opened in 2016.

The ACT Government published plans for Canberra's East Lake area in 2010 that would see the removal of most of its railway infrastructure, making way for urban development.

[36] In 2013 a report by the Federal Labor government proposed a three-platform station under Ainslie Avenue – north of Cooyong Street and the Canberra Centre.

[39][40][41] Should the airport be chosen as the new location, Canberra station would be 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the CBD, the furthest distance of any Australian capital other than Darwin.

In 2017, the ACT Government announced it had protected from development a fork-shaped railway corridor stretching from Eaglehawk on the ACT-NSW border heading southeast to Canberra Airport with an alternative branch southwest to Ainslie Ave.

[43] In 2018 the NSW Government announced its intent to "look at" a light rail connection between Queanbeyan and Canberra, without indicating a route preference.

[45] In November 2022, the Fyshwick Business Association released another proposal dubbed the Eastwick Greenline, which centred on relocating the railway terminal further east to Newcastle Street to form a multi-model transport hub, linked to a future transport corridor by converting the existing heavy railway between Fyshwick and Kingston to light rail.

[47] ACT Government plans to move Canberra station were re-ignited in 2022 as part of a consultation on the re-development of the surrounding East Lake area.

Indicative plans show the Rapid Network extending along the existing railway towards Fyshwick, suggesting the line could be converted to Tram-Train status allowing heavy and light rail to share tracks.