Palatine is the outermost station on the UP-NW line to have three tracks, serviced by two platforms.

As of 2018[update], Palatine is the seventh busiest of the 236 non-downtown stations in the Metra system, with an average of 2,482 weekday boardings.

Today's station was built by DLK Civic Design, an architecture firm based in Chicago, in 2001.

It contains a clock tower and an outdoor coffee shop/café, a pedestrian concourse, and decorative canopies, as well as concession facilities.

Until it was discontinued on February 8, 2010, Pace route 699 offered northbound service to northeast Palatine and southbound service to Harper College, the Woodfield Mall area in Schaumburg, Alexian Brothers Medical Center, and Elk Crossing Shopping Center, the latter two in Elk Grove Village.