Subrail - a new brand for London's suburban railways

[PTR 444]

TFL's variety of rail lines in London has never been so diverse. In addition to the Underground, we now have the DLR, Tramlink, Overground, and the most unimaginative of them all, TFL Rail. Of course, the last one will eventually become the Elizabeth Line but with more heavy rail lines than ever now penetrating the capital, is it time for a total rebrand of these services.

I propose a new brand is introduced which amalgamates the Overground, Crossrail and all National Rail suburban services into one TFL identity called Subrail. The 'Sub' part of the name implies that it runs both through the SUBurbs and SUBterranean in some places. The following services would come under this brand and be named as follows:

Crossrail - Elizabeth Line
Crossrail 2 - Charles Line
Thameslink - Thatcher Line (don't know what else to call it tbh, it was of course opened when she was in power)
Overground Richmond/Clapham Jcn to Stratford - North London Line (the GOBLIN would also become part of this line with trains from Barking able to travel west of Gospel Oak)
Overground Highbury & Islington to points south - East London Line
Overground Watford DC Line - Euston Line
Overground WAML services - Liverpool Line
C2C suburban services - Fenchurch Line
Southeastern suburban services - Charing Bridge Line (reference to services terminating at both Charing Cross and London Bridge)
Southern suburban services - Victoria Bridge Line (reference to services terminating at both Victoria and London Bridge)
SWR suburban services - Waterloo Line
Chiltern suburban services - Marylebone Line
Great Northern suburban services - Northern City Line
Romford to Upminster Line - Romminster Shuttle
Grove Park to Bromley North Line - Gromley Shuttle
Ealing to Greenford Line - Ealford Shuttle

Each service identified in bold would have an individual colour on the tube map with the exception of the shuttles which would all be shown in grey in similar fashion to the shuttles on the New York Subway network. This would remove the current issue of half the tube map being littered with orange striped lines just because they are all branded 'Overground'. They really are a range of separate services so why should they all be shown in the same colour?

Of course, we could argue that these should just be more tube lines, but the main perk of Subrail is that National Rail tickets will be valid on these services, whereas they are not on the Tube. I intend to produce a map exclusively showing these services which I will hopefully be able to put up here soon.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't entirely understand why TfL haven't gone with the idea of "S-Bahn" type services all coming under the LO brand, to be honest.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

I'm just glad the OP doesn't work in marketing or branding. Gromley? Romminster?!

 

[PTR 444]

I'm just glad the OP doesn't work in marketing or branding. Gromley? Romminster?!

Surely it can’t be much different from how the Bakerloo Line was named in 1906. It got its name because it was much easier to say and remember than the original name of “Baker Street and Waterloo Railway”. I’m sure people will get used to it.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Are we likely to see Crossrail 2 in the next 25 years given all the delays / cost overruns with Crossrail 1? Not to mention who's going to pay for it?

 

[Aictos]

I don't entirely understand why TfL haven't gone with the idea of "S-Bahn" type services all coming under the LO brand, to be honest.

For once I agree! That would be a far more efficient method to use.

 

[John Webb]

I'd stick with "Thameslink" - indicates that the line links across the Thames, which is precisely what it does. Let's keep politicians off the railways as much as possible, please!

I don't agree either with some of the other suggested names - "Charing Bridge" omits Cannon Street, for example. The shuttles I would simply give as the terminal station name. And certainly not 'Subrail' - gives a hint of 'substandard' perhaps?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd stick with "Thameslink" - indicates that the line links across the Thames, which is precisely what it does. Let's keep politicians off the railways as much as possible, please!

And certainly not 'Subrail' - gives a hint of 'substandard' perhaps?

Yes, don't remove the brand Thameslink.

I genuinely don't see why they don't use London Overground.

 

[LLivery]

Thameslink - Thatcher Line (don't know what else to call it tbh, it was of course opened when she was in power)

If you think people are ever going to call Thameslink the "Thatcher Line" (Thatcher of all people) I don't want whatever you're smoking. Thameslink should be and will always be Thameslink. Nothing else.

The suburban network of London needs organising as one branded system, yes. But they don't need full on names. The Parisian system makes the most sense to me.

RER A, B, C, D, E
Transilien H, J, K, L, N, P, R, U

So I'd have
XR Thameslink; XR Elizabeth
London Overground 1, 2, 3, etc. for everything else.

 

[Andrew S]

Why though?

 

[sprunt]

Surely it can’t be much different from how the Bakerloo Line was named in 1906. It got its name because it was much easier to say and remember than the original name of “Baker Street and Waterloo Railway”. I’m sure people will get used to it.

It's not how easy it is to say, it's that it sounds horrible. There's not a company in the world that would ever call a product or service "Gromley".

 

[bspahh]

I propose a new brand is introduced which amalgamates the Overground, Crossrail and all National Rail suburban services into one TFL identity called Subrail. The 'Sub' part of the name implies that it runs both through the SUBurbs and SUBterranean in some places. The following services would come under this brand and be named as follows:

Its also an invitation for headline writers to say the lines are SUBstandard, SUBsidised and SUBhuman

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's not how easy it is to say, it's that it sounds horrible. There's not a company in the world that would ever call a product or service "Gromley".

Bromgrove sounds better, though might well confuse people with a place in the Midlands.

 

[PTR 444]

After a long week of editing, I have finally finished a map of my proposed Subrail services. There are some modifications to my original proposals as follows:

Gone are the horrible names of Gromley, Thatcher Line etc, now replaced with an alphanumeric system for each line. For example, services on the Elizabeth Line are numbered A1-A4, while those on the suburban lines into Waterloo are designated W1 - W8 etc.

Marylebone and Fenchurch Street are now linked by a new Crossrail 3 through Central London, therefore these termini's suburban services have been combined into a single line consisting of routes C1-C4. One of the branches also utilises the Elizabeth Line tunnel between Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood.

Services terminating at London Bridge now have their own identity (R1-R4) to distinguish them from the South London routes going to Victoria and Charing Cross.

Even though the DLR isn't really a suburban rail service, I have included it on the map as it interchanges with quite a few other services. I have extended it west of Bank to Charing Cross to allow it to interchange with a wider variety of services, particularly Crossrails 2 and 3 at Victoria.

The Northern City Line has been extended to Bank to provide an interchange with the enhanced DLR.

 

[Gareth]

What happens to the outer Thameslink stuff. Does it still go through the core or does it revert to termini?

 

[PTR 444]

What happens to the outer Thameslink stuff. Does it still go through the core or does it revert to termini?

The Thameslink services going to points beyond those shown on the map will still go through the core, but won’t be branded as Tfl services.

 

[Dougal2345]

Its also an invitation for headline writers to say the lines are SUBstandard, SUBsidised and SUBhuman

Apologies in advance for lowering the tone, but would the main lines be known as DOMrail?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Not sure how you're getting the DLR beyond Bank or the NCL beyond Moorgate. There's no path for the tunnels.

 

[HSTEd]

An alphanumeric system like the NY subway is probably best given the large number of services