It is served by four daily Amtrak round trips –the Carolinian, Floridian, Palmetto, and Silver Meteor – and is a bus station for Tar River Transit and Greyhound.

Rocky Mount station was originally built in 1893 by the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, in dark red brick Romanesque Revival style.

In 1995, the 2.23-acre (0.90 ha) property, which included the station and a former REA Express freight house (c. 1930), was sold to the City of Rocky Mount.

Between 1997 and 2000, the station was restored to its early 20th century design features, with additional accessible-compliant platforms and other amenities.

[5] Former ACL "Whopper Hopper" 500000 that had been on display at the station was donated to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in 2018.