A cyclic rail-stabilized method of driving an electrophoretic display device (1), wherein a substantially dc-balanced waveform is used to effect various required optical transitions. The driving waveform consists of a sequence of picture potential differences, which cause the charged particles of the electrophoretic display device (1) to move cyclically between extreme optical positions in a single path, irrespective of the image sequence required to be displayed, except in the case where the desired optical transition is from an intermediate position (or grey scale) to the extreme optical position (or rail state) closest to that intermediate position, in which case the optical transition is effected substantially directly by means of a single voltage pulse (20) which is substantially equal in amplitude and duration, but of opposite polarity, to the voltage pulse (30) required to effect an original optical transition from the rail state to that grey scale.