The train platforms are at ground level within the median strip of the freeway, while the bus stands are on the bridge carrying Canning Highway.

The ground-level bus stops closed on 29 January 2006 for conversion to train platforms by John Holland Group.

The station is on the Mandurah line, which is part of the Transperth train system and owned by the Public Transport Authority, a state government agency.

[4] Canning Bridge station has two 150-metre (490 ft) side platforms, which are located at ground level within the median strip of the Kwinana Freeway.

[9] From February to April 1987, Transperth and the Main Roads Department trialled a contraflow bus lane along the southbound Kwinana Freeway carriageway from the Perth CBD to South Terrace during the morning peak.

[10][11][12] After the trial, it was decided that a permanent bus lane on the northbound carriageway from Canning Highway to the CBD would be built instead.

[20][21] In March 1999, the South West Metropolitan Railway Master Plan was approved by the state government.

[22] Detailed plans for the bus transitway from the Narrows Bridge to the Murdoch Park 'n' Ride at South Street were unveiled in October 1999.

[23][24] A joint venture between Henry Walker Eltin and Clough Engineering were announced as the preferred tenderer in June 2000[25] and awarded the $34 million contract for the design and construction of stage one of the bus transitway in August 2000.

[32] A new master plan for the South West Metropolitan Railway, also known as the Mandurah line, was released in August 2002.

This was unlike the bus routes further south, which were planned to be curtailed to terminate at the various bus-train interchanges.

Package E was for the roadworks on the Kwinana Freeway, which included the replacement of the bus on-ramp at Canning Bridge station.

[43][44] Leighton Contractors was selected as the preferred proponent for Package E in October 2003[45][46] and the contract was awarded in December 2003 for $99.1 million.

The bridge was jacked up so that steel cradles could be attached to its underside, which were to rest on bearings on the concrete walls, similar to the incremental launch technique.

[57] A hydraulic jacking system was used to push the bridge along the concrete walls to its new position, which took five to seven hours, all while the freeway remained open to traffic.

[58][59] From 29 January 2006, the lower level of the Canning Bridge bus station was closed for conversion to rail.

[69][70][71] A report released by the Auditor-General in November 2017 found that the six bus routes along the freeway between Canning Bridge and Elizabeth Quay should be reduced or cancelled, which would save $4 million per year.

The Public Transport Authority said that making passengers transfer to a train at Canning Bridge station would be less convenient which could reduce patronage, and that the bus infrastructure at the station would have to be upgraded to allow for terminating buses.

[72][73][74] In February 2019, Infrastructure Australia added the "Canning Bridge crossing capacity and interchange" to its Infrastructure Priority List, noting that the interchange was causing congestion, pedestrian and cyclist access was poor, there were no drop-off facilities, and no toilets.

The Canning Bridge upgrade was added to the list after advocacy by the South West Group, a consortium of six local government areas in southwestern Perth.

[78] In December 2021, the federal government committed an additional $25 million towards the upgrades, which facilitated a new pedestrian bridge from Davilak Street to access the station from the south.

[82] The master plan said that patronage could be higher if the Raffles Hotel site were redeveloped and bus connections to Curtin University were created.