Lioness and Windrush names added to London’s iconic Tube map
/ Our Today
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LONDON (Reuters)
London’s famous Tube travel map will feature new names including “Lioness”, “Windrush” and “Suffragette” in a multi-million pound rebranding of the Overground train network intended to make it easier for passengers to get around.
The map was originally designed for London’s Underground rail network, known as the Tube, but the Overground already looms large on the current design with over 100 stations spread across six orange, spaghetti-like lines.
Those lines will now have names also including “Liberty,” “Mildmay” and “Weaver”, along with a new colour for each route.
Transport for London (TfL) said its research had shown that some passengers find the extensive Overground network confusing and would find it easier to navigate if it didn’t use just one single colour or name.
The Overground was created in 2007 when various pieces of the suburban rail network were brought under the control of TfL.
The change would represent the biggest transformation to the Tube map, the electric circuit-like diagram of coloured, criss-crossing lines designed by Harry Beck in 1933, since the opening of the Elizabeth line in 2022. The Overground’s orange roundel, however, will be retained at stations.
“In re-imagining London’s tube map, we are also honouring and celebrating different parts of London’s unique local history and culture,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.
TfL had said last year the rebranding project would cost 6.3 million pounds ($7.9 million).
Conservative mayoral candidate Susan Hall, who will run against Labour’s Khan in a vote in May, said the move was a “pointless, costly, virtue signalling project”.
The red-coloured “Windrush” line, passing through areas with ties to London’s Caribbean communities, marks the generation of post-World War Two Caribbean migrants, while the yellow “Lioness” line, that runs close to Wembley stadium, pays tribute to England’s women’s soccer team.
Names for the other lines, too, have similar, local connections, which TfL said were chosen after consulting with passengers, local communities, historians and industry experts.
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