The station and the rest of the North London Line was included in the reorganised BR business Network SouthEast in 1986.

Following the privatisation of British Rail, the station was managed by the Silverlink franchise (National Express) from 1997 until 2007, when operations passed to London Overground.

[citation needed] The station was initially refurbished towards the end of 2007, to coincide with the takeover of the line by London Overground.

[15] In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published a plan[16] for an off-road, mainly orbital North and West London Light Railway, sharing the orbital Dudding Hill Line freight corridor, and taking over at least one of the two Midland Railway freight lines which run through the neighbouring West Hampstead Thameslink station.

All services at West Hampstead are operated by London Overground as part of the Mildmay line using Class 378 EMUs.