London Overground: New names for its six lines revealed

By Tim Stokes & Tom EdwardsBBC News

Listen: What do Overground commuters think about the new names?

The new names of London’s six Overground lines have been revealed, significantly changing the look of the famous Tube map.

Last August, Transport for London (TfL) announced it wanted to give the routes distinct identities to make it easier for passengers to navigate the network.

The services will become known as the Lioness line, the Mildmay line, the Windrush line, the Weaver line, the Suffragette line and the Liberty line.

Each will also have its own colour.

The six lines on the Overground are currently only marked with one colour, which is fondly nicknamed by some as the Ginger line.

Lioness line

Yellow parallel lines: Running through Wembley, the name is to honour the achievements of the England women’s football team.

Mildmay line

Blue parallel lines: It has been named after the small charitable hospital in Shoreditch, which played an important role during the HIV/Aids crisis in the 1980s.

Windrush line

Red parallel lines: Running through several areas with strong ties to Caribbean communities, including Dalston Junction, Peckham Rye and West Croydon, it has been named to honour the Windrush community.

Weaver line

Maroon parallel lines: With stops including Liverpool Street, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and Hackney, the route travels through several areas of London known for their importance in the textile trade.

Suffragette line

Green parallel lines: Named to celebrate how London’s East End working-class community fought for women’s rights, the line also runs to Barking, home of the longest-surviving suffragette, Annie Huggett, who died aged 103.

Liberty line

Grey parallel lines: According to TfL, it is named “to reference the historical independence of the people of the borough of Havering”, through which it runs, as well as the celebrating “a defining feature of London”.

Explaining the changes, London transport commissioner Andy Lord said on route maps the Overground “is currently shown as a complicated network of orange”, which could be “confusing for customers less familiar with the network”.

“These new names and line colours will simplify the maps and routes for our customers, and it is hoped it will encourage more people to make the most of our services.”

You can see what it will look like here.

TfL said it had worked with customers, stakeholders, historians, industry experts and local communities, with the names representing the areas the lines travel through, while marking London’s history and cultural diversity.

The Tube map, created by Harry Beck in 1933, has become a London and global icon with a simple and easy design.

But, critics say the map is getting too busy – after the Thameslink route and Elizabeth line were recently introduced.

While the London Overground’s orange suburban spaghetti line which orbited the capital was not the easiest to work out, TfL’s designers hope the new design improves the travel experience for commuters.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the new names were “honouring and celebrating different parts of London’s unique local history and culture”.

TfL previously said the changes were expected to cost about £6.3m ($7.9m) to complete.

Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall called the rebranding “stuff of nonsense”, adding that Mr Khan has “so many serious issues he needs to get to grip with”.

“The Central line is falling apart,” she said. “I’m surprised he didn’t call one of them the ‘Sadiq line’.

“People want to know they can get their trains, people want to feel safe. They don’t want to know he is spending goodness knows how much on PR people deciding what to rename things.”

Work to rebrand the lines will start immediately, with the main rollout of the new names and colours planned to take place across a week in the autumn. TfL said it hoped to complete the revamp by the end of the year.

Images: TFL, PA and Getty Images

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