Passenger services on the Stirling to Dunfermline main line were closed on 7 October 1968; through goods services were closed on 10 October 1979. West of Dunfermline, the line through Dunfermline Upper station served Oakley Colliery until 1984. The line remained in place as far as Oakley until 1993, but was subsequently lost to road development within Dunfermline. Just eight years later, studies began for the reopening of the western end of the line from Stirling to Alloa, as part of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link.