American era

The station was built in response to the Los Baños–San Pablo bypass line that aims to cut the travel time from Manila down to the South Main Line compared to the current route that passes through the province of Batangas. This in turn, made the Los Baños section of the Pagsanjan-Sta Cruz Branch line part of the PNR Main Line to Bicol. Now with two rail lines diverging from this station, it became known as the "Junction Station". Over time, it was eventually referred to its present name due to its proximity to the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture (now known as University of the Philippines Los Baños).

During its peak, the station become the terminus for the now defunct Pagsanjan Line and consisted of multiple tracks with side and island platforms.

The line was served by the Railmotors of Manila Railroad Company and usually have 5 trips per day.

In the year 1938 to 1939, the island platform and passenger shelters are constructed for the station. One notable structure was the pebbled pillars made by Filipino Architect and National Artist Pablo Antonio.

World War 2

The station was subjected from air attacks when Imperial Japan have invaded the country after the attack on Pearl Harbor. On Christmas Day of 1941, a train on the station was bombed by the invading Japanese forces where 30 passengers have lost their lives. Structures were damaged and caused multiple loss of lives as well. It suffered further damage as the Americans returned to liberate the country and bombed the station as well.^[2]

Post-War

After the war, MRR rehabilitated the train lines coming from the station going to Lucena (68.02 km) and part of the Pagsanjan Line (28.38 km). The college-Pagsawitan section was restored on September 1, 1946, after repair works were done on bridges, buildings, and communication lines. The short spur of rail line from Pagsawitan to Pagsanjan was excluded as it was removed by the Japanese during the war. Meanwhile, the college-Lucena section of the Main Line South was also rehabilitated and placed back into operation on February 20, 1947. The first through traffic from Manila to Bicol since the liberation was finally inaugurated after completing repair works of tracks, buildings, structures, and most importantly, the repair of the Palicpic Bridge which was blasted during the war.^[3]

Contemporary era

Train service on the station have been repeatedly opened and closed for a variety of reasons such as natural disasters, lack of proper maintenance, and/or lack of rolling stock throughout its history.

Present

In the present day, the platform of College Station opposite the active line currently serves as a terminal for trikes serving the barangays of Batong Malake and Mayondon. Some residents occupy the area in and around the station building. The station's passing loop was also in a bad state with some parts of the tracks dismantled, if not being under a layer of soil but still recognizable.

The station was also used by PNR to some extent as it serves as stopover for passing work trains conducting clearing operations in and around Los Banos during the first quarter of the year 2022.

In January 2022, the steel stairs was dismantled by PNR Crew along with DEL 5007 to be repurposed for the upcoming Inter-Provincial Commuter Train Service between San Pablo City in the province of Laguna and Lucena City in the province of Quezon.

In May 2022, the station saw an increased presence of PNR employees along with security personnel. The station building, along with some of the shed are repainted and repaired. Old roofing and the ceiling was replaced with new ones. The interiors are still awaiting to be retrofitted even though there is already employees stationed inside. These progress hints for possible reopening of services in the near future. The commuter service still did not materialize as of August 2022, two months after the supposed opening of the Dela Rosa, Makati to Lucena City Line, with the allocated steel stairs now relegated to San Pablo-Lucena Line.

Inter-Provincial Commuter Calamba Extension

Philippine National Railways inaugurated the Calamba-Lucena Line on October 6, 2022 in addition to the current San Pablo-Lucena route of Inter-Provincial Commuter Line which runs between the provinces of Laguna and Quezon. The additional stops included in the extension are IRRI Flag stop, College, Los Baños, Masili, Pansol, and Calamba, which was also formerly served by the Metro South Commuter IRRI extension way back 2019.

The line utilizes the newest trainsets of PNR bought from PT INKA and will be consisting of only 2 trips daily, departing Lucena early in the morning and Calamba later in the evening.