The station opened for Amtrak on October 29, 1978, marking the return of the first passenger rail service to Niagara Falls since 1964.

It is located at Willard Avenue and 27th Street on the outskirts of town, about three miles from Niagara Falls and the city's downtown.

More than 500 people attended the inaugural ceremonies, which included speeches by Congressman John LaFalce, New York Department of Transportation Commissioner William C. Hennessy, and Niagara Falls Mayor Michael O'Loughlin.

Passengers on the Niagara Rainbow and later the Maple Leaf needed to walk some distance to board or detrain, since trains could not pull up to the building.

The building is also located on the edge of a busy CSX (formerly LVRR and later Conrail) freight rail yard.

In 1987, the city of Niagara Falls began the planning on a project to establish a new station at the U.S. Customhouse, near the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.

[2] State and local governments later got involved in the process of building the new multi-million dollar Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center.

[8] Today the station is used as an Amtrak facility to service trains and change crews as well as a place to turn around Empire Service Amtrak train sets to go eastbound after they back out from stopping at the Niagara Falls Station and Customhouse Interpretive Center.