On May 8, 1858 General Directorate of Russian Railways granted permission for the construction of the railroad from Moscow to Troitse-Sergiev Posad for 66 versts and approved the charter of a joint stock company called Moscow-Yaroslavl Railway Company, headed by Savva Ivanovich Mamontov.

From the Yaroslavl station was laid a line to the Volga wharves, the so-called "Vetka".

After the opening of the Moscow-Yaroslavl railroad Savva Mamontov decided to prolong the railway line from Yaroslavl to Kostroma.

Initially trains going from Yaroslavl to Kostroma had to go in reverse approximately to the present boundary of the station in the direction of Moscow.

In 1971 the section "Yaroslavl - Toshikha" was electrified and electric trains started running through the station to the Kostroma direction.