The new station includes design features inspired by the Claude Bragdon designed station and is about 32-percent larger than the older Amtrak station it replaced. Most importantly, the new station features a central high-level platform serving two passenger tracks with additional outside freight tracks on either side for a total of five tracks through the station area. Previously, trains in either direction had to be switched to the single low-level platform on the southern-most track. This new capacity was used immediately when the first train into the station the westbound Amtrak Maple Leaf No. 63 arrived just a minute before the on-time eastbound Maple Leaf No. 64 pulled into the station.
The new Rochester station opened roughly on schedule but considerably over budget. The original cost estimate was budgeted to be around $29.8 million dollars but ended up costing $44 million. The total cost was split between the federal government, the state, and the city of Rochester.
