Between Wandsworth Road and Peckham Rye the route ran parallel to another set of tracks.

This began a long, slow period of decline that culminated in the running of only nine trains a day in each direction at peak times in 1988.

[1] LBSCR passenger service began on 13 August 1866 between London Bridge and Loughborough Park.

[2] LBSCR service between Old Kent Road and Wapping on the East London Railway commenced in March 1871.

[6] Grosvenor Road station, just south of the western terminus at Victoria, was open for LBSCR passenger service from 1 November 1870 to 1 April 1907.

[10] Side passages ran along the train which enabled passengers to board at any door before finding a seat and improved the punctuality of the service.

[11] The first class accommodation was greater than the service required and the centre carriages were transferred to other lines.

[15] To coincide with the electric service the steam trains that shared the tracks between London Bridge and Peckham Rye were retimed and ran without stopping between those stations.

[13] Steam trains continued to operate early morning services from 04:30 to 07:30 with all-day electric running introduced from 1 June 1912.

[8] Through service from Peckham Rye over the East London Railway ended in June 1911 and the link north of Old Kent Road was abandoned in 1913.

[6] Old Kent Road and South Bermondsey stations were closed and Sunday service was withdrawn from East Brixton on 1 January 1917, during the First World War.

[18] During overhead AC operation there were typically 68 down (London Bridge to Victoria) and 62 up trains on weekdays with some additional short workings.

[26] The service had been reduced to run every half hour only at Monday to Friday peak times.

Clapham and Wandsworth Road stations, which were only served by the South London line service, were "reduced to primitive unstaffed halts so you can't even buy a ticket" according to SoLLTA.

[37] Following the privatisation of British Rail, passenger services on the line were provided by Connex South Central from 26 May 1996.

Southern (initially branded SouthCentral) operated passenger services from 26 August 2001 until 8 December 2012.

Passenger service was diverted west of Wandsworth Road to serve Clapham Junction.

The South London line serves the southern pair of four platforms at Peckham Rye station.

After the Grove Lane tunnel, the next station is Denmark Hill where the South London line serves the southern pair of four platforms.

[42] As of the December 2023 timetable the typical off-peak service pattern is 16 trains per hour, of which the following run over the South London line for part of the journey:[42] As of the December 2023 timetable, there are typically four off-peak Southern trains an hour between London Bridge and Peckham Rye calling at South Bermondsey and Queens Road Peckham that continue via the Portsmouth line.

In July 2023, TfL announced that it would be giving each of the six Overground services unique names by the end of the following year.

[45] The East London line extension plans of 2001 proposed a new station at Surrey Canal Road near the Bermondsey/New Cross border.

[50] During a presentation at the site as part of the Open House 2014 weekend, Renewal announced a process of choosing a more recognizable name was underway with TfL.

This would restore the old route to Peckham Rye and take in part of the Catford Loop Line, to Bellingham in south-east London.

[56] Pressure groups and local MPs urged the Mayor to reconsider who secured funding in principle from the Secretary of State for Transport for greater line use or branches to be added.

[58] In 1991, adding platforms at Brixton was identified as a potential revenue generator for the South Central division, but the cost to build was considered prohibitively expensive.

[63] The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, expressed doubts that any proposals to construct these stations would pass a cost-benefit analysis and that they would be unlikely to be approved.

[60] Lambeth Council and the East London line Group have expressed support for an interchange station at Brixton and have requested that this proposal be considered for future funding.