Gütersloh‘s original station building was built between 1845 and 1847 by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company[4] at the end of today's Kökerstraße.

Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) incorporated the north wing, which was still-standing and included a station restaurant and waiting room, in the reconstruction.

Since that day, the section between Hamm and Wunstorf has been electrified and the important link between the Ruhr and Hanover has been open for continuous electrical operations.

Since 1973, Gütersloh Hbf has always served as a starting point for testing high-speed train operations by the Bundesbahn Central Offices (BZA) in Minden.

The 58.0 km-long section between Brackwede and Hamm became one of the first lines in Germany to be upgraded for scheduled services at 200 km/h in 1979 and, since then, the two platforms on the main tracks 2 and 3 runs are regularly passed at the 200 km/h maximum speed.

On 26 November 1985, at 11:29, an InterCityExperimental train fully occupied with passengers on the line between Gutersloh and Hamm reached a speed of 317 km/h.

[10] In long-distance traffic, the station is served every two hours by an Intercity service on line IC 55 between Stuttgart and Dresden.

Gütersloh Hbf is served by the following lines:[11] The station is covered by Der Sechser (“the six”) fares of the Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund OWL (Ostwestfalen-Lippe transport association).