[9] The line was well served, with 50 trains operating between Liverpool Street and Loughton each day, a further 22 continuing to Epping and 14 more to Ongar.

On 30 September 1994 London Underground withdrew the service between Epping and Ongar and subsequently sold off that section of the Central line.

On 11 May 2008 an e-petition calling for the reopening of North Weald and Ongar stations was created on the Downing Street website.

[14] However, since 2013, the route options for this proposed line have been amended to terminate at New Southgate instead and no longer include the Epping branch.

Another major contributing factor is that many people living in not too distant towns such as Harlow, Bishop's Stortford, and Chelmsford use the station instead of their own National Rail stations, because it is considerably cheaper to travel to London by London Underground than it is to use National Rail services.