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

[Dinopawus]

Saw this earlier. I don't think it's an official consultation as such but it sounds like interviews will be held with the travelling public.

I'd really like to see women represented (although not holding my breath). When I hear that Sadiq Khan wants diverse representation, I tend to assume that doesn't mean women.

Who would you like to see nominated with links to London? Rosalind Franklin,
Ada Lovelace, Cicely Saunders, Marie Curie, Millicent Fawcett, any number of suffragettes, Rhaune Laslett, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, all spring to mind but there must be hundreds of other brilliant women worthy of the honour.

tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/naming-overground?intcmp=73299#on-this-page-1

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.

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.

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.

“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.

@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.

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.

The Replacement Bus Line.

That was because the central tunnel part was late, so the bits at the western and eastern ends which run on existing tracks were run separately, Reading & Heathrow to Paddington, and Liverpool Street to Shenfield. They didn't want to use the Elizabeth Line branding until the whole thing was ready to open. TfL Rail was only ever meant to be a temporary name.

Why the fuck they think it’s right to waste £4 million on this useless exercise is a mystery.

They whinge that they are out of money, and the waste it on something that’s quite frankly not needed.

I wonder who the street was named after? 🤔

I can't imagine. I do know the station was going to be called the 'Grosvenor Terminus' when it was being planned.

She pulled rank over the Duke of Westminster then. Or perhaps Albert did, on her behalf. I'd be pulling stunts like that all the time if I were monarch.

I thought TfL didn't have any money

It's pointless naming all the lines unless they are different colours anyway, would make zero difference to how they are perceived now.

I think it would be best if they were named after a landmark on their respective routes (keep human names for monarchs who have reigned for lengthy periods hence Victoria, Jubilee and Elizabeth lines)

It's a bit untidy for the overground, as the lines branch so much, but I'd keep it as simple and intuitive as possible

So, for example, Liverpool Street to Enfield Town/Cheshunt/Chingford could be the Essex line

Highbury&Islington to New Cross/West Croydon/Crystal Palace/Clapham Junction could be the Southern line

Stratford to Richmond/Clapham Junction could be the Omnibus line

Westford Junction to Euston could be the West&North line

Gospel Oak to Barking could be ?? (trying to come up with a good tree/bark related name)

I like the names as they are. Why change them? Stupid idea.

I grew up south of the Thames, and aside from the Northern Line to Morden, the very bottom of the Bakerloo, and the District to Wimbledon, we didn't have any Underground lines. We just called all the trains the 'Southern Region', and that meant all of them, and just said where we were going, e.g. West Norwood to Beckenham Junction, or Herne Hill to Orpington.

😀😀😀@ Trainymctrainface - very clever.

Personally, I’d prefer they spent the money on improving the infrastructure and paying their staff properly so they stopped going on strike.

I currently live south of the Thames. When we moved here, nearly 40 years ago, my colleagues said in perplexed tones 'But how will you manage without a Tube line?' (Many also asked it was safe. ) Well, we managed perfectly well even then, with several main line rail services to choose from, and in the intervening years we've acquired more options - the DLR from Lewisham to Bank or Stratford via Canary Wharf, the Overground from Croydon to Highbury & Islington also enabling us to change onto the Jubilee Line at Canada Water and now the Elizabeth Line at Whitechapel. It would be lovely if the Bakerloo Line extension did eventually happen, but at the current glacial rate of progress I may not live to see it. The buses are better than they were as well.

If we have to have names for the different bits of the Overground, my vote is for our bit to be called the East London Line, which is what it used to be called when it terminated at New Cross/New Cross Gate. Then we could have the North London Line back again, and the New Cross to Clapham bit could be the South London Line.

I really wish Kahn would focus on actual issues in London - housing, congestion, crime etc and stop just pissing about with the fun, cosmetic bits.

Heliotroper · Yesterday 22:57

Stratmond

Theydon Girls?

MowingTheTerf · Today 11:33

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.

I wonder how many entries for Trainline McTrainline Face they'll get?

Oh, very good.

What so wrong with London Overground to Barking and London Overground to Gospel Oak that warrants spending 4 bloody millions to be fixed?

Especially when there are questions being raised about whether TfL (and other companies) can continue to offer free transport to school children, those with disabilities and persioners.