The southern terminus of Amtrak's Illini and Saluki routes, it is also served by the City of New Orleans.

Illinois Central Railroad (IC) service to Carbondale began on July 4, 1854, with a wooden passenger depot.

[9] Early on, plans had called for a two-story structure, with the second floor being home to space for a work program.

The work program space was moved to the first floor in design revisions which saw the plans change to a one story structure.

[9] The design for the planned new station building has its main entrance at its southwest corner, accented by a structural tower.

The new station building is also planned to be home to Southern Illinois University's welcome center and the offices of the Carbondale Tourism agency.

This flooring is planned to include a compass motif in the building's western vestibule and a two-dimensional representation of a geodesic dome at the southwest entrance as a tribute to the work of famous onetime Carbondale resident Buckminster Fuller.