The idea of a rail link from Chennai to Kollam, then the trading capital of the Travancore Kingdom was first conceived in 1873.

Kollam's (Anglicized Quilon) railway station was built in 1904 by Sree Moolam Tirunal Rama Varma, Maharaja of Travancore.

It was the ruler's desire to create a rail link between Quilon, the then commercial capital of his State and Madras.

The meter gauge line was later extended to Chala at Trivandrum via Paravur and Varkala and inaugurated on 4 January 1918[13] Fund allotted for the extension of meter gauge railway line from Quilon to Ernakulam via Kottayam on 1952 and is inaugurated on 6 January 1958.

[14][15] The metre-gauge lines between Kollam and Ernakulam were converted to broad gauge in 1975 and inaugurated on 13 September 1976.

The station has 6 platforms for handling long distance, passenger, MEMU & goods trains.

An FCI godown owned and operated by Food Corporation of India is also situated near Kollam junction.

Approaching from the Thiruvananthapuram side, this route necessitates a sharp turn to enter the station.

The bend is approximately eight degrees[20] Consequently, the maximum speed for trains entering Kollam station from the Thiruvananthapuram side and departing in the same direction is restricted to 30 kmph[21] The annual passenger earnings from Kollam railway station shows a steady growth for several decades.

[34][35] Kollam is among the first 100 railway stations in India selected for providing high-speed Wi-Fi services by Google, named as ‘Project Nilgiri’.

[36][37][38][39][40] The service inaugurated at Kollam station on 26 December 2016 by Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister of India, through video conferencing.