The station opened for cross-border passenger services from Thailand on 5 March 2009, becoming part of the first international railway link serving Laos.

[3] The station provides a connection between Vientiane and the capital cities of three other ASEAN nations: Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, and several major Southeast Asian ports.

On 22 February 2006, after the conclusion of a trilateral agreement between Thailand, Laos, and France, the French Development Agency announced that it had approved funding for a second phase of the Thanaleng railway—an extension to Vientiane.

[4] Construction was originally slated to begin in December 2010, and Lao railway officials had confirmed as late as September 2010 that plans would go ahead.

[12] After reviewing the project, Lao officials decided that Thanaleng station would be converted into a terminal for freight trains crossing over the Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge; freight could then be transported from Bangkok into Laos at a lower cost than would be possible with road transport.

After several postponements, the Bangkok (Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal) to Nakhon Ratchasima high-speed rail project (Phase 1) was officially launched by the Thai government in October 2020.