Has anyone seen that TFL are wanting to name the London overground lines?

The Replacement Bus Line.

The Elizabeth Line was named TFL Rail Line before being named Elizabeth Line, and that was more confusing.

But again they pointlessly spent money on signage etc naming it TFL Rail, knowing full well that they would change the name. And people wonder why TFL keeps needing bailouts.

@Anactor

the Victoria Line goes through Victoria, but the station was named after the monarch.

The station was named after the street, according to Christian Wolmar.

“I agree that Elizabeth Line departed from the useful principle of line name being connected to where the train went, but she was our longest reigning monarch.”

It also goes very nicely with the Victoria Line - yes, the Victoria Line goes through Victoria, but the station was named after the monarch.

Not that big a jump to go straight to naming the line after the monarch.

God knows what Khan will do but it is guaranteed to waste money, make the lines very confusing and will probably dredge some very unimportant person from British history and suggest she was a leading figure when she was not.

I agree that Elizabeth Line departed from the useful principle of line name being connected to where the train went, but she was our longest reigning monarch.

In our family we refer the tube (rather than the underground) because out our way it is most over ground once you get beyond Finchley Rd. I agree with the person above that "overground " is used if not the tube. I use that to mean those little regional trains eg to Watford which are not the big trains such as London to Leeds.

One thing that struck me when I lived in London was how people called all the rail lines (and there are a lot of them) that aren't the Underground or Tube, 'the overground'. I mean what used to be the 'British Rail' services. Then along came TfL and their takeover of certain of those lines and branding as 'London Overground' with the orange line colour. Great improvement, new trains, staffed stations, improved frequency, etc. But the brand is confusing to some people who are used to calling all the 'big trains' that don't go underground 'Overground'. And now we have Thameslink and the Elizabeth Line that do burrow underground to cross the capital. So the branding and route identities are a bit confused. I personally think that Paris is more rational with numbers for the Métro lines and letters for the RER lines. I know that TfL has its eye on the inner-London 'metro' style services out of Waterloo, Victoria, London Bridge, Charing Cross, etc.

A personal gripe is people who call an Underground train a 'tube'. That's either the round, deep level tunnels of certain lines or the service as a whole.

So all the talk about putting the original line names (which detailed what route they were) has gone (I suppose that was too easy and too cheap) and instead the bankrupt TFL are spending more money on diversity consultants and a naming competition.

Naming them will be useful. There are currently too many grouped under the Orange. But agree go with something informative - we had the East London Line for example, revive this.

@IcakethereforeIam

I put 'morlock' in the .gif drawer

I don't know what a '.gif drawer' is, but to me, the Morlocks will always be the creatures that are so cruel to poor Weena and the other Eloi.

Oh and Eddie.

Liverpool has a subway! You could have knocked me down with a feather.

I put 'morlock' in the .gif drawer (just curious, love ya Liverpool 😘) and got a load of American Football?

I have always liked the way a lot of Paris Métro stations are named after events or people rather than just the district they are in. I can think of Louise Michel (she was an anarchist!). Others current or upcoming are Barbara (the singer) and Bagneux-Lucie Aubrac (Lucie was a Resistance hero).

I still recall the days of Silverlink and how confusing it was when it became the Overground. It really doesn't need to undergo another change and besides, the Overground doesn't run as frequently as the Underground, so the name is a reminder that they're two different kinds of services.

TFL just need to leave it as it and spend money elsewhere.

@SageHoney thank you for the life size representation of the Glasgow Subway, so small are the trains that Rishi Sunak could have to duck!

I saw this. I was told that it was London Overground because one of the senior managers liked the Wombles, which is probably not true.

Though if it is:
Great Uncle Bulgaria line for the first one- is that the Stratford to Richmond one?
Tobermory line for the one to Watford Junction- the furthest north
Madame Cholet line for whichever line serves the most French people
Orinoco line for the one that crosses the Thames.

Oh dear, couldn't the money be spent on track or signal upgrades? Or station maintenance?

Jealous. We have public footpaths through fields or potholed roads for speeding cars (no pavements).

The approach is centred around hearing from the many different communities that live close to the London Overground and how we can represent them through the line names

I live near the end of the Richmond-Stratford overground. I don't need to be 'represented,' I need it to run on time and to be able to get a seat.

The problem with this is that calling these lines by another name is going to confuse people who have been calling them by their current names for years. Hell, I still call the Richmond line the North London Line occasionally and it hasn't been that for years.

This has DisasterMcDisaster written all over it.

Well as a USER of the Overground I can tell you naming the lines is a welcome initiative.

Some of the lines are completely separate of others - it's not an interconnected network, just a brand name for services run by a particular operation.

As I said earlier, it will help passengers easily identify whether their line is affected by disruptions or closures, as these are currently lumped together under "the Overground " and you have to scan through the whole list to see if you're affected. Unlike named Tube lines, where you can just glance at the name of the line the check for problems.

And at least one of the original lines had a name before it was absorbed into the Overground and extended: the East London line. Wikipedia still has an entry for it applying to the Highbury & Islington/Crystal Palace/Croydon route. But it doesn't include the Clapham branch so it will be interesting to see how they accommodate that - a different name for each branch or a single name with reference to branch destinations.

I am very happy for the above ground lines to be called by the end destination. Since that is what I call them now and have done for decades.

As a regular user, I do not wish for these to be named to commemorate anything or anybody. I need them to remain logical so I can get around.

I think names would be useful. It's difficult trying to describe a route to anyone not familiar with the Overground. I agree with PPs that the name should be relevant to the route. It's confusing enough being a foreign visitor in London, without having to guess whether the Marie Curie line takes you to Richmond or Chingford.

Or another idea what about the Charles line ( known as the Charlie line to monarchists and drug fans / young people but republicans and Harry and Megan fans call it the Freedom line or sometimes the Harry and/ or the Republic line)

what about
the thatcher line ( known as maggie line)
the Johnson line ( known as the Boris line)
the Livingston line ( known as the Ken line)
the Churchill line ( known as the winston line)
the khan line ( known as the Sadiq line)
that wouldn’t be annoying and confusing at all
imagine explaining it all to confused and lost tourists wondering where the overground has gone, it would be great fun
people could have their allegiances and refuse to use certain lines or insist they are the only ones they use.

or we could just name them sensible non political geographical names and everyone can get on with their lives.
or just stick to “london overground” which works perfectly well

I'd love to be in charge of naming train lines but agree they shouldn't be named after people, kings and and Queens excepted.