Trains go east to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago and as far west as Elburn, Illinois.

As of 2018[update], River Forest is the 107th busiest of the 236 non-downtown stations in the Metra system, with an average of 448 weekday boardings.

The surrounding neighborhood is mostly characterized by single-family homes, baseball fields and tennis courts.

Pace suburban buses stop one block to the north on Lake Street.

The station building was originally built in 1915[citation needed] by the Chicago and North Western Railway and is also the River Forest Park District headquarters.