The Bay Meadows stop lacked a passenger shelter, and was basically just an opening in the chain link fencing where riders could access the grandstand parking lot.

[4][5] Tracks now rise at the maximum allowable grade, starting from where they emerge south of the State Route 92 overcrossing, minimizing the depression required on 25th Avenue to maintain vertical clearance for road vehicles under the new rail bridge.

[4] The grade separation was also designed to accommodate a potential mid-line overtake required for Caltrain/HSR blended operations, which would expand the Peninsula Corridor right-of-way to up to four tracks.

An initial design called for a station just north of 31st Avenue, with a transit center plaza and parking garage west of the tracks.

Preliminary renderings showed the new Hillsdale station with an island platform generally extending south from 28th, with parking provided east of the tracks.