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How much geographical information do the names of the Underground lines convey?
Bakerloo - when you know it connects Baker Street and Waterloo, I guess that is some help, but it isn't even the only line that does that.
Central - all the lines serve Central London.
Circle - is kind of a circle, apart from the bit that isn't, but that's fair enough.
District - meaningless, London is full of districts
Hammersmith & City - woo-hoo, this one does what it says on the tin - apart from the eastern leg.
Jubilee - no geographical connection at all
Metropolitan - meaningless, all of London is the metropolis
Northern - serves the most southerly station on the network
Piccadilly - goes through Piccadilly Circus, but it isn't the only line to do that, and it does go a long way north and west as well
Victoria - goes through Victoria, but it isn't the only line to do that, and it does go a long way north and south as well
Waterloo & City - at last, we've got one where the name does tell you where it goes
There are one or two of the Overground lines where I think they've made a poor choice, but I also realise that my opinion is just that, my personal opinion, and I don't expect TfL to pander to my views.
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Signage within the station always refers to "Northern Line", "Central Line" etc.
Did all of them get given new names in one big go? For the ones that aren't geographic , mostly it's because it was the name of the pre nationalisation company that was around for decades before it got incorporated into LUL
The switchover seems to have been pretty seamless on the Mildmay Line at least - station signage revealed, platform and on-train announcements altered. At Hackney Central, passengers were told to “change hear for Weaver Line and national rail services from Hackney Downs”.
One observation is that the signage on some platforms is relatively discreet as the large, generic orange roundels tend to dominate.
Or it's possible to think that Sadiq is a mediocre Mayor, but has won because the Conservatives are very unpopular in London now since Brexit, and have put up even worse candidates...
How is Mildmay being pronounced? Mild may or milled may?
I don’t think Conservatives are unpopular, the last two mayoral candidates did fairly well considering they were lousy choices and there was hardly any effort to actually win the mayoralty
I don’t think Conservatives are unpopular, the last two mayoral candidates did fairly well considering they were lousy choices and there was hardly any effort to actually win the mayoralty
In 2015 despite winning the general election, the Conservatives only got 35% of the vote in London, with Labour on 44%. This became 33% in 2017, 32% in 2019 (when they won a big majority nationally) and 21% in 2024.
So it's a tall order for them to win London, which explains the mediocre candidates in recent years.
In 2015 despite winning the general election, the Conservatives only got 35% of the vote in London, with Labour on 44%. This became 33% in 2017, 32% in 2019 (when they won a big majority nationally) and 21% in 2024.
So it's a tall order for them to win London, which explains the mediocre candidates in recent years.
Mediocre is understatement of the year! The last two Conservative candidates have been utterly appalling. The feeling I get is that the vote share for Khan doesn’t really reflect the level of active support for him, a lot of it is reluctant. Likewise I’ve never heard anyone raise naming of Overground lines as a salient issue, for most people I interact with the number one issue for them in London is crime, specifically stuff like robberies and knife crime.
From today, Monday 25 November, the London Overground lines have got new names.
Each of the six routes now have their own name and colour, helping to make the network easier to navigate and creating an identity that reflects London’s diverse history.
I understand the names have already been revealed, and in some cases seen on signage.
Having just looked at the maps, then the standalone Overground map is OK. However, once combined with the Tube map, does it seem confusing for visitors to London trying to navigate their way by public transport?
Kind of underwhelming updates so far (at least from what I've seen). Nothing this morning at Surrey Quays (still) and TfL Go is still not updated. Did they forget?
Given most people have zero idea what the word 'woke' means, don't be offended if I ignore the posts from anyone who uses the word. Extra bonus points for slipping in things like 'leftist' or 'agenda'. (Don't worry, you still have the freedom to say what you want so there's no need to play the victim card).
They. Are. Just. Names.
People will get used to them. It may take a while - I cannot remember which one is which for example - but they'll get used to them. And even if they don't, they're all under the London Overground umbrella and so you can just ignore the names if you really can't keep the blood pressure under control because a name is hurting you.
They aren't just names though are they. They have been clearly chosen with a political element in mind. And that isn't any different from the Elizabeth Line either I would agree.
The reality is we had names ready to go, which could have been implemented with zero cost to branding agencies and all the time and energy that was spent on that exercise. £115k was paid to branding agency DNCO who seem to have a relationship with City Hall having worked on other projects with them. Yes you may say it's a small sum in the grand scheme of things but if it bought a few more seat covers or was added to a station renovation kitty I personally would rather the funds went there.
Given it is the mayor who intentionally has sought to make political capital out of the wayfinding exercise I don't see why that can't be criticised.
Windrush Line could have been named in honour of Mr Windrush in "I'm Alright, Jack" (1959), played by Ian Carmichael
Checked out Leytonstone High Road and Wanstead Park today. Both had new maps, "Suffragette Line" timetables, and platform announcements mention "Suffragette Line train". Also rode on two 710s between the two stations (one each way), both had the six different line diagrams above the insides of the doors.
Windrush Line could have been named in honour of Mr Windrush in "I'm Alright, Jack" (1959), played by Ian Carmichael
Checked out Leytonstone High Road and Wanstead Park today. Both had new maps, "Suffragette Line" timetables, and platform announcements mention "Suffragette Line train". Also rode on two 710s between the two stations (one each way), both had the six different line diagrams above the insides of the doors.
Looks like they've taken down the map they released a few months ago that had the new names on it, since the main online tube map now has the line names.
Had a relative at the weekend who was considering getting a cab from Sydenham to Euston because there were ‘delays on the overground’ on the TfL app. I had to reassure him that the Windrush line was fine. A good thing imho.
Surprised to see all of the line diagrams on a 378 this evening, as they used to just put the 378 routes. Surrey Quays hadn't removed their platform line diagram sticker on the southbound platform and platform directional signage at Whitechapel still all said 'Overground'.
Guess it'll take a little longer to complete everything.
Surprised to see all of the line diagrams on a 378 this evening, as they used to just put the 378 routes. Surrey Quays hadn't removed their platform line diagram sticker on the southbound platform and platform directional signage at Whitechapel still all said 'Overground'.
Guess it'll take a little longer to complete everything.
Putting all the lines on is frustrating when you could be sitting opposite a line diagram of the Weaver and Liberty which don't use 378s. Surely they could have just put Windrush diagrams on the 378/1s which are DC only?
Yeah that's true to be fair (and London is my home). I worked in the building at the time when it was launched a fair few years back and (maybe unfairly) it was squarely ridiculed as a Lebedev vanity project, having his own TV channel. ESI Media paid a small fortune for the low Sky channel number when it launched.
The wall signage at Stratford seems to have been peeled off, but not the overhead signs which are still wrapped in their orange overlays. Maybe the budget only extends to one stepladder for the whole network
It's already having a positive impact on network legibility for people unfamiliar with the system. Several groups of tourists on the NLL/Mildmay line had no issue locating the correct line diagram inside the 378s I was on this weekend to work out how many stops they had left to Camden Road.
Oh, forgot to add that at Wanstead Park and Leytonstone HR, the "Maps" I mentioned were the full tube maps. Not the platform-side line diagrams, which were still "vinyled" up yesterday!!
I’m very supportive of TfL giving the Overground lines their own identity, but it is frustrating to see what often seem to be obvious mistakes crop up here and there. I happened to be looking at the timetables page on the TfL website earlier and spotted at least three errors in the published PDFs:
The Mildmay line timetable states in the footnotes that ‘frequent Bakerloo line services run’ between stations marked with the TfL roundel on the timetable. The three stations with such a marking on this particular line are Richmond, Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury, none of which the Bakerloo goes anywhere near! The text has clearly been copy/pasted from the Lioness line timetable, and the internal proofreading process has failed to pick up that it should refer to the District line instead.
The line diagram on the Suffragette line timetable lists different walking distances for the same station. For example, the distance from Walthamstow Queen’s Road to Walthamstow Central is said to be 320m for the Victoria line, but 350m to the Weaver line. You have to pass along the Weaver line platforms to get to the Victoria line, so it’s not possible for them to be further away! The interchange distances between South Tottenham and Seven Sisters are similarly inconsistent - it’s apparently only 350m to the Victoria line but 560m to the Weaver line/National Rail.
On the Mildmay line timetable line diagram, the text in the interchange box for West Hampstead is left-aligned, but on every other interchange box the text is centred.
I know it’s a lot of things to get changed all at once and there’s always the chance of human error, but it feels like these sorts of errors crop up a lot more than they used to.
The 'North London Incline' from the 'North London Line', oops, Mildmay, joins the Down Slow from Kings Cross just ahead of the Copenhagen Tunnel. How long before the 'North London Incline' becomes renamed?. Or the Renaming Squad tackles the 'Harringay Curve Line' (from the Goblin, oops, Suffragette, to the Down Slow) at Harringay?
The 'North London Incline' from the 'North London Line', oops, Mildmay, joins the Down Slow from Kings Cross just ahead of the Copenhagen Tunnel. How long before the 'North London Incline' becomes renamed?. Or the Renaming Squad tackles the 'Harringay Curve Line' (from the Goblin, oops, Suffragette, to the Down Slow) at Harringay?
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