The railway station was originally the southern terminus of the
Coastal railway line, which opened on November 3, 1954 and reached what was then the northern fringe of Tel Aviv. For the next four decades, it only handled trains to and from the north, and was colloquially known as
Tel Aviv North station. This colloquial name could be ambiguous because between 1949 and Tel Aviv central's opening in 1954, "Tel Aviv North" was the official name of the
Bnei Brak railway station. Railway service to and from destinations south of Tel Aviv was provided from
Tel Aviv South railway station, which was not connected to Tel Aviv Central. In its initial configuration as a terminal station, the passenger platforms were located directly north of the terminal building, to the west of their present location. In 1988, the tracks leading to the station (along the present Pinchas Sapir Street) were shifted eastwards as works on the
Ayalon Highway and railway progressed southwards. The station's platforms were then moved to their current location and a pedestrian bridge over the Ayalon Highway was built to connect them to the terminal building to the west. The station with its relocated tracks was opened to the public on January 10, 1988, and the official opening took place on May 3 of the same year. In 1993, the station ceased being a terminal station when the Ayalon section of the coastal railway was extended to link with the
Jaffa–Jerusalem railway in southern Tel Aviv. At that point, the little-used Tel Aviv South station (which unlike Tel Aviv Central was not located on the Ayalon line) was closed for passengers and services operating to it were routed to the more conveniently located Tel Aviv Central station instead. Between the closing of Tel Aviv South and the opening of Tel Aviv HaShalom in 1996, Tel Aviv Central was the only active passenger railway station in the city. Until 1980, the head office of
Israel Railways was located at
Haifa Central station when Tzvi Tzafriry, the general manager of Israel Railways decided to move the head office to Tel Aviv Central. In 2017 Israel Railways' head office was relocated from Tel Aviv Central to a new office complex situated on the grounds of the
Lod railway station, with a new Lod passenger terminal later built directly to its south. ==Central bus terminal==