In 2002, the Scottish Association Public Transport (SAPT) published a report suggesting that electrification of the Shotts Line would open up the Glasgow suburban electric network to Edinburgh and beyond, principally linking the capital to the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (now cancelled).

[2] Prior to the completion of the electrification project, parts of the route were already electrified using the 25 kV overhead system.

From Holytown the line continues through open countryside past Shotts and joins the Edinburgh Branch of the Caledonian Railway (part of the WCML) at Kirknewton.

[3][4][2] A Monday to Saturday hourly service was operated on the line, calling at all stops between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley.

The exceptions to this rule were: Breich which was a request stop at peak hours only, the two trains a day in either direction that travelled via Carstairs and the single afternoon service from Edinburgh via Shotts that terminated at Motherwell.

The new service calls at Glasgow Central, Bellshill, Shotts, West Calder, Livingston South, Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley only.

There had been one service per week which was booked to travel over the line on Saturdays only (2105 Glasgow Central – Edinburgh), but this was withdrawn in the May 2023 timetable change.