The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, officially announced new names and colours of the London Overground rail lines at Dalston Junction on 26th November.
However, residents have questioned the decision to tweak the line and say the rebrand has made it more confusing to navigate around the service.
In a £6.3m upgrade, the Overground lines now go by the names of Liberty, Lioness, Mildmay, Suffragette, Weaver and Windrush.
This update to TfL’s Tube map aims to make it easier for London travellers to navigate the vast network of 113 Overground stations by giving them specific names and colours.
Not everyone is on board with the changes
But some residents aren’t happy with the names and colours make and say it’s harder to navigate the Overground. Janet Evans, a Long Ditton resident, said the new names “remove all indications” of where the lines go.
“It will make it more difficult to plan a journey, especially if you are not familiar with these areas,” she said.
Caity Gill of Hampton Village also raised the concern that the colours do not facilitate the needs of people with colour blindness.
She said: “The colours chosen are not good. Three of six are on the red/green spectrum, which is the most common type of colour blindness,
“These names don’t help people unfamiliar with London in the same way that names of stations do,” she added.
The announcement event celebrated the near-completion of one of TfL’s largest customer-focused projects ever undertaken by the company.
Susan Young, a Fetcham local, said she was concerned that the cost of TfL’s naming project will cause fares to rise again.
Support for the rebrand
Some locals were in favour of the new names and colours. Peter Odell, a Surbiton River Roads resident, said it is a positive move.
“The overground line needs visual clarity which this brings,” he added.
Meds Rizvi, a Surbiton resident, echoed that the rebrand of the lines is a “practical matter”, therefore it is a good decision.
Surbiton local Lee Travers agreed with other residents that it’s an “easy solution” to clarify the Overground, much like TfL’s Underground services.
After TfL unveiled 6,000 new station wayfinding signs, Tube maps and digital screens, final touches to the TfL website, TfL Go app and audiovisual passenger information on newer Overground trains will be added over the next couple of months.
What the lines represent
The new Windrush line, replacing the Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon line, is red and commemorates the contribution of the Windrush generation to British life.
The Lioness line was named after the historic achievements and legacy of the England women’s football team and supplants the Watford Junction to Euston line in yellow.
The Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford line was renamed the Mildmay line which sports the colour blue and pays tribute to the Shoreditch hospital that played a pivotal role in the 1980s HIV/AIDS crisis.
The Weaver line, formerly the Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford, is maroon and honours the line’s areas known for their textile trade contributions that were shaped by diverse migrant communities.
The line currently known as Romford to Upminster is now the Liberty line, grey, which celebrates freedom and independence of Havering, the borough it runs through.
The Suffragette line, in green, succeeds the Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside to promote the working-class movement in the East End that paved the way for women’s right to vote.
