London Overground line names announced

[WelshBluebird]

How about simply saying between which locations is disrupted? This 'naming' of lines is pointless. Why is it necessary?

And if I don't know if those locations are on the specific bit of the Overground I'm travelling on?

Aside from not being particularly fond of the names, I fail to see how these names will make it easier for passengers to work out where their train goes.

Does the Jubiliee line, or Elizabeth line, or Metropolitan line, or Diatrict line do that? No.

 

[DarloRich]

Politicians who are more interested in furthering their own agenda rather than working for the good of the country as a whole.

What agenda is being furthered here? Could you provide me a link to the manifesto? Is the Mayor of London responsible for the whole of the country? Is that not the job of the PM?

 

[DjU]

However the TfL blurb explaining each name only talks about Mildmay Hospital. It makes no reference to Mildmay Park as the reason for the naming of the line.

TfL blurb here: https://madeby.tfl.gov.uk/2024/02/15/overground_line_names/?intcmp=75213

And the Mission Hospital itself is named after the Mildmay Park and Mildmay Road areas up in Islington/Canonbury due the roots of William Pennefather.

The line runs near the Hospital (though not the nearest) and then directly through the place it gets its namesake from.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Just repeat mistakes from the past, ok well done

Nobody seems to have a problem with those existing line names ...

 

[Tetchytyke]

Off topic but; you think it’s premium professionalism for commentators made up from players in the 9th step of the men’s game?

I've read this several times now and I'm completely at a loss as to what point you are attempting to make.

Barton's just failed in a managerial job at the 3rd step?

But yes, probably off-topic. I think the Lioness Line is a naff name, but I worry about anyone who's offended by it.

 

[DjU]

nothing to do with genitalia

No quite, Joey Barton also has a massive issue with the colour of skin or nationality as being a factor in punditry too... he doesn't like the black men either. Are you using the 9th grade tiering there for your agreement?

If you think his issue is 'women' and not just a mask for 'anyone but white male' then you may want scratch deeper.

But yes well off topic.
Anyway back to the Overground.

 

[GatwickDepress]

well I’m not right wing and it reads like a load of virtue signalling over reach. So yes it is a baiting extreme left action.

Struggling to see how those names or the actions are 'extreme left' when the names chosen are fairly liberal and milquetoast names. Most of them are clumsy attempts at acknowledging London's lesser-appreciated history and heritage (I actually quite like Mildmay, it rolls off the tongue well) or 'virtue signalling' as some might put it, but that's all it is. I would have preferred the Goblin and Harlequin or DC Lines to be used, but it is what it is.

Extreme left would be renaming Clapham Common to Clapham Communist and having platform staff read their slam poetry over the tannoy.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Even if people didn't know Goblin, once explained it actually makes sense, and is both memorable and non controversial.

And slightly humorous - which adds to it being a good name.

 

[87electric]

Overground Lines

Bulgaria Line
Tobermory Line
Orinoco Line
Cholet Line
Tomsk Line
Wellington Line

Fun, easy to remember, and a Bernard Cribbins voice impersonated for onboard announcements ending with a don’t forget to look around your seats before you leave and take your rubbish with you.

Granted, it’s a stretch to Wimbledon. But so what. Stuff politics.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

They probably need to do it with the DLR too.

DLR would be a lot trickier because there isn't such a clear separation between the different routes. The various routes share the same track, which means the fact that - for example - Woolwich Arsenal trains tend to go to Bank Beckton trains to Tower Gateway is just a timetabling convenience that could in theory get changed at any time (and may well change during disruption/engineering works). That's not like the Overground where basic infrastructure dictates that - for example - Watford Junction trains are never going to go to Stratford - which is why it makes sense to give those routes separate names.

 

[stuu]

DLR would be a lot trickier because there isn't such a clear separation between the different routes. The various routes share the same track, which means the fact that - for example - Woolwich Arsenal trains tend to go to Bank Beckton trains to Tower Gateway is just a timetabling convenience that could in theory get changed at any time (and may well change during disruption/engineering works). That's not like the Overground where basic infrastructure dictates that - for example - Watford Junction trains are never going to go to Stratford - which is why it makes sense to give those routes separate names.

They did on the 12 January

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I really don't mind the names at all since they reflect a lot of the culture and heritage of London but, as a non-Londoner, it is the breaking of the geographical link with the line that will confuse me. Lea Valley, Watford etc all give an idea as to where you will be going (remember we are talking about the Overground here) something that Mildmay, Windrush just doesn't (Possible exception is Lioness but as a non-footie fan I had to think about that - the link didn't leap out at me).

That's exactly my feeling. For most of these lines, there are readily available geographic names - in some cases, names that have already been historically used for the rail routes the Overground took over. Adopting those names could well have made the network simpler to understand. Instead Sadiq Khan has gone for names that reflect causes that he may well feel passionate about but which, due to their non-geographic nature, are just going to be harder to remember and therefore make the network more (not less) confusing. Total idiocy in my view.

(And before anyone accuses me of bias, I felt similarly when Boris Johnson renamed Crossrail).

 

[bramling]

What agenda is being furthered here?

Because this is about identifying groups of people. That is a political agenda by definition, as it means specific groups are being identified as being worthy of recognition. I object to that concept. For what it’s worth I’m not particularly fond of the Elizabeth Line name either.

Is the Mayor of London responsible for the whole of the country? Is that not the job of the PM?

One expects politicians to govern in the best interests of *all*, including those who didn’t vote for them.

 

[NorthKent1989]

It’s clear that these line names have been done to score diversity points, they’re utterly stupid names

Some absolute snowflakes in here getting upset by names.

Worry less and enjoy life more.

I mean, they’re stupid names for lines, and you can’t deny it’s all been done to score political correctness points.

Why does the ELL have to be called Windrush? When it skips the very area Windrush people settled which is Brixton, the line could have been called Brunel after the man who built the Thames Tunnel, the first under water rail tunnel in the world, but we know why they didn’t go with this even though many actually supported it.

Lioness line is an absolute joke and bears no relation to the area it serves, they’ve had 5 years to come up with sensible names and they come up with these?

Suffragette line has to be the worst name for for a line I’ve ever heard of, this has all come from a organisation that says they’re broke, well no wonder if they spend money on naming lines that are meaningless, just sums up Khan’s tenure as mayor quite frankly.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

These are names. They cant hurt you, they don't denigrate you or reduce your value as a person. Why do these names worry you so?

So by that logic, you'd have no objection to 'The Thatcher Line' then

 

[DarloRich]

One expects politicians to govern in the best interests of *all*, including those who didn’t vote for them.

How does this activity breach that requirement?

Because this is about identifying groups of people. That is a political agenda by definition, as it means specific groups are being identified as being worthy of recognition. I object to that concept. For what it’s worth I’m not particularly fond of the Elizabeth Line name either.

Ok - but what is wrong with that? Why do you feel this way?

but we know why they didn’t go with this even though many actually supported it

Please can you explain this. I don't know why they didn't chose Brunel but did chose Windrush.

Suffragette line has to be the worst name for for a line I’ve ever heard of,

Can you explain why?

just sums up Khan’s tenure as mayor quite frankly.

And yet he wins elections in London.............

So by that logic, you'd have no objection to 'The Thatcher Line' then

I wouldn't like it because I think Thatcher was an evil woman who destroyed working class communities to make cockney spivs rich actually divisive figure but even then I wouldn't be loosing the plot and wibbling on about wokeism or culture wars or any such silliness Why? Because it doesn't really matter!

The name of the line cant hurt me, doesn't reduce my value as a person or denigrate me in any way unlike Thatcher and her policies

 

[DjU]

Because this is about identifying groups of people. That is a political agenda by definition, as it means specific groups are being identified as being worthy of recognition. .

Damn those pesky Weavers...

but we know why they didn’t go with this even though many actually supported it.

Were you involved in the process then?

I mean you seem to know how many supported it.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Why does the ELL have to be called Windrush? When it skips the very area Windrush people settled which is Brixton

The Windrush Line goes right through the middle of Brixton?

 

[Taunton]

The trouble with names that have a political association is that the next politician along with a different persuasion goes and changes them.

The Windrush Line goes right through the middle of Brixton?

Unfortunately without a station ...

 

[DynamicSpirit]

The Windrush Line goes right through the middle of Brixton?

... without stopping!

(Or is that supposed to be symbolic of Windrush people being overlooked and ignored )

(Although I guess if this increases the political pressure to actually build some Overground platforms at Brixton, it might not be a bad thing)

 

[306024]

How about simply saying between which locations is disrupted? This 'naming' of lines is pointless. Why is it necessary?

If you look at the wider TfL picture, you’d just have to hope you didn’t have disruption between Kings Cross and Euston, or Gloucester Road and South Kensington. Other examples are available. It’s just a shame there weren’t six teletubbies

 

[Mike99]

For fear of upsetting those folk liking the 'Liberty Line' name As its a very localised route, but known obviously to people from further afield, would the naming it the 'Emerson' line cleared up any doubt as to its location, and in times of disruption allowing passengers to make alternative plans.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Windrush Line is also quite well considered as it has a direct relationship to local history & people there today. No combination of East London / South London / Croydon Line would have worked.

The problem with the windrush line is niot that it rushes through Brixton non-stop: it serves Clapham, where many of the Windrush passengers first lived on arrival in London (in the former Deep Tube shelters). It is that only one of its four branches goes through the area. Naming after two other immigrants, who actually built part of it, would have been much better. (I refer, of course, to the Brunels: and all four branches feed into the their tunnel)

 

[NorthKent1989]

The Windrush Line goes right through the middle of Brixton?

It doesn’t stop there though which is pointless

 

[norbitonflyer]

basic infrastructure dictates that - for example - Watford Junction trains are never going to go to Stratford -

They can and they do, using the Primrose Hill link, for example when the line through Hamapstread Heath is closed

 

[D365]

Suffragette feels clunky. I think it would have been better named after a person, but I suppose the problem there would be the most famous suffragettes were from Manchester and if you name it after a specific person questions will be asked about some of the things they did.

Good point well made and this is what confused me when I was learning about the Suffragettes in school (e.g. did they individually/collectively do bad things for a greater good..?).

 

[NorthKent1989]

Were you involved in the process then?

I mean you seem to know how many supported it

Didn’t suggest I was involved in it, but the current political climate dictates that anything after a “white male” needs to be “decolonised”

 

[norbitonflyer]

I can see some of these getting nicknames:
Suffering Line
Mildew Line
Weevil Line

 

[TRAX]

11 pages of discussion (and counting) all for nothing if we had just gone with lines A to F and 1 to 11 for the Underground !

 

[birchesgreen]

DLR would be a lot trickier because there isn't such a clear separation between the different routes. The various routes share the same track, which means the fact that - for example - Woolwich Arsenal trains tend to go to Bank Beckton trains to Tower Gateway is just a timetabling convenience that could in theory get changed at any time (and may well change during disruption/engineering works). That's not like the Overground where basic infrastructure dictates that - for example - Watford Junction trains are never going to go to Stratford - which is why it makes sense to give those routes separate names.

Well they do use different colours on the line diagrams aboard the actual trains so there is something to start with.