[citation needed] In 1987, Network SouthEast restored passenger services on the Oxford – Bicester Town section, on the initiative of Oxfordshire County Council.

[citation needed] In 1988, Network SouthEast rebuilt and reopened Islip station, again with Oxfordshire County Council support.

In May 2009, a partnership between First Great Western and Oxfordshire County Council rebranded and relaunched the line as The Bicester Link.

In August 2008 Chiltern Railways announced Project Evergreen 3 to create a new passenger service between Oxford and London Marylebone via High Wycombe by 2012.

As part of this project Chiltern Railways would double most of the line, build a new Oxford Parkway passenger station at Water Eaton to serve Kidlington and north Oxford and build the short 'missing-link' from Bicester Town (now Bicester Village), station to the Chiltern Main Line.

The works included complete reconstruction of the line to modern standards, with new track, signalling and bridges, and the infrastructure improvements ready for 'East West Rail' services (see below).

[4] The timetable for December 2015 to May 2016 has two trains per hour between Oxford Parkway and London Marylebone, all of which stop at Bicester Village but only a few at Islip.