[1] The station is an important transit hub for the c. 35,000 non-resident higher education students studying in the city,[2] and for Leiden's surrounding area, including the seaside town of Katwijk.

Leiden Station opened on 17 August 1842 as the southern terminus of the first expansion of the Old Line (Dutch: Oude Lijn) from Haarlem, operated by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HIJSM).

[5] This station took inspiration from Berlin's Lehrter Bahnhof, with which it shared a triumphal arch central window flanked by double columns in the façade.

While the new station's design was generally well-regarded, the ground-level crossings of the busy railway line caused increasing traffic and safety problems as the years went by.

Schelling's design was not received favorably, also because its rather austere style contrasted markedly with the opulent forms of its predecessor and was regarded as unbefitting Leiden's status as the predominant university city in the country.

Consisting of a white lattice structure, a curved, shell-like entrance leads into a ticketing hall lined with shops and restaurants.

This caused some controversy because the building was also a popular and convenient walking route to the area at the station's rear, which contains the Leiden University Medical Center.

[12] It was also the site where the Leiden physicist Paul Ehrenfest picked up various friends and colleagues such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and J. Robert Oppenheimer.