During the 1970s and 80s British Rail only ran a regular daytime service on the Dunfermline line as far as Cowdenbeath; Lochgelly & Cardenden were only served during the weekday business peaks (as can be seen from Table 242 of the UK All Line timetable of that era), whilst the remainder of the route to Thornton Junction was freight-only (having been closed to passengers in 1969).

Some services regularly ran through to/from Newcraighall until 2015, but with the opening of the Borders Railway that September this routing ceased (except for a small number of weekday peak trains).

[7] At one time a railway ran all the way from Thornton to St Andrews round the coast of Fife.

This is to satisfy the long term upward trend of cross-Forth communications in Fife's economy.

The 5 mi (8 km) Leven branch line continued to operate until 2001 supplying coal to Methil Power Station.

From 2011, a one-mile stretch of the line was reopened for freight services from Earlseat opencast pit to the mainline at Thornton.

[11] Supporters of the line argue it would provide better services to support major industrial sites at Fife Energy Park, Methil Docks, the Low Carbon Park (under construction), Diageo, the businesses along the Leven Valley (including Donaldsons) and major retailers in Leven located close to the line.

[14] It has also been proposed to start a Burntisland - Leith ferry crossing in order to spread some of the Fife-Edinburgh traffic.

The £55 million first phase, to electrify 65 miles (104 km) of Fife Circle track, between Haymarket and Dalmeny, for use by battery electric multiple units, was begun by Scottish Powerlines in June 2022 and is due to be completed by December 2024.

[19] This will allow the Fife Circle services to be operated by battery electric multiple units whilst minimising capital expenditure on infrastructure, in particular avoiding the major expense of electrifying the Forth Bridge.