New London Train Line Names

[ScoldsBridal]

Just announced. Definitely a Feminist vibe to them. Love that the line that goes through Wembley has been named the Lioness Line. There’s also:
The Suffragette Line
The Windrush Line
The Liberty Line
The Weaver Line
The Mildmay Line

I laughed as Twitter are making out the Weaver Line is named after Jackie Weaver 😂 It’s actually honouring the textile industries it passes through in areas like Spitalfields and Hackney.

Windrush is fantastic too. Serving areas with people that have strong connections to the Caribbean. Symbolically powerful.

The Mildmay Line - is such a lovely word and honouring a small, charitable hospital that was at the forefront of AIDS/HIV treatment. Also had a tradition for treating Jewish immigrants in the East End.

The Liberty Line - again just a great name - it goes to Havering which was historically a ‘Liberty’ town.

And finally The Suffragette Line which goes to Barking were Annie Huggett lived - the longest surviving Suffragette who lived to 103. And also the spirit of the East End working classes who fought for Women’s Rights.

I know people will moan about it being ‘woke’ (yawn) but I think they’ve balanced out honouring London’s varied communities with some strong branding. I like how they haven’t chosen named people - but have emphasised social history, achievement and recognition of real contribution to the Metropolis of London.

I’m sure there will be some imaginative re-naming by passengers - suffering on the Suffragette line - Stuck in the ‘rush’ hour on the Windrush etc…

But I like them.

I guarantee the first three will be the Suffy, the Windy and the Libby in common parlance.

Probably by the end of the day.

£6m spent so far on this.

And this is woke virtue signalling. Why? Because you name a line Suffragette, yet public transport is much worse for women now, and the LTNs are making a lot of streets very unsafe.

Don't know why they couldn't have just gone back to the original names which told you very clearly the from and to.

I've not heard about this before today. What lines are being renamed?

£6m? Bloody hell. That's a proper waste of money.
Though I did see some bloke moaning on SM that there wasn't any representing the white middle aged male. Twas good to see another bloke putting him in his place.

And yet we have the Elizabeth Line, which is a really stupid name picked by Boris Johnson to suck up to the Queen. It should be called Crossrail.

You can moan about it being political, but the Tories previously named the Victoria and Jubilee lines as well, and if Boris had done this, we'd probably have the Churchill and Thatcher lines, which I'd find grossly offensive.

As it happens, I refuse to use Elizabeth line and always refer to it as Crossrail.

As much I like the names myself, I can't help but feel it will alienate other people? Disabled line? Immune suppressed line? I'd rather everything stay away from politics and go with Orange, Black, Yellow... yes I know it's trying to make up for all-male names in the past. But isn't this the same but the other way? 2 wrongs making a right and all that...

None are being renamed, it's for London Overground, which has grown to quite a significant size and currently has no line names. It's therefore hard to identify which part is being talked about if there's disruption on it.

Nothing is being renamed. The overground lines are getting named.

Thanks to those who explained. It's just that a poster upthread said "why can't they go back to the original names".

I like them too, OP

Most of them didn't really have "original names" as they were part of the national rail network. North London and East London lines were in fairly common use, but the pattern of services over them has changed a lot over the years so they don't really serve a useful purpose.

There's actually no lines in London named after male historical figures, and three (Elizabeth, Victoria and Jubilee) with names associated with female monarchs.

Crossrail was the project name, it was then officially called TFL Rail, and then renamed to Elizabeth line.

The Suffragette line was originally the Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside line for instance, and then they all got consumed under "Overground Line".

I do like the Suffragette line name amd the link to the history, but I'm afraid that that line will always be known as the Goblin line to me!

I refuse to use Elizabeth line

What a perverse thing to do. We use it a lot. It's wonderful.

I travel on it, I just call it Crossrail.

Cross rail was the name of the project undertaken by cross rail ltd.

Why do you think it should be called cross rail?

It was always actually intended to be called Crossrail, in a similar vein to Thameslink, until Boris Johnson intervened.

I absolutely hate the Elizabeth line name, it doesn't identify Crossrail for what it is, a high-speed route that goes far beyond the Underground's catchment area, and I'm a republican.

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon I was reading some Facebook comments about these names and there was a lot of mention about the "Goblin" line. As a slight train nerd I am ashamed to say I have never hear of it. Why is/was it called that?
@Chersfrozenface my first thought was indeed "oh so my local line is the "Windy" 😂

Because it crosses London by rail!

All the original plans and promotion for it when it was first dreamed up in the 80s have images of trains with Crossrail branding.

I work in transport and have a transport planning degree so I'm very well informed on this.

I really like the Windrush Line. It's absolutely right for the route and also honours the vast numbers of people who answered the call to fill the vacancies in public transport.

People who think Transport for London would name a line after a woman from Handforth Council need a serious geography lesson. Manchester might have more of a case there (depending on where you draw the line). 🤣
Overall though I like the names and think it's nice that they've added a few new ones with different backgrounds. And no, I don't see why we need the "wheelchair-bound person's line" etc (also the irony of that if it's not an accessible line; a better way to improve disability equality on TfL would be to fix the accessibility issues). That sort of silly logic is why the Labour party now stand for nothing. Equality doesn't have to be exhaustive it just has to be less shit than before.

The Stratford to Richmond line used to be called the Silverlink- anyone else old enough to remember that?!

"Goblin" is an abbreviation of Gospel Oak to Barking Line.