Transport for London (TfL) has announced a revamp of the London Underground map. After 14 years, the six London Overground lines will receive new names and colours. The new names – the Lioness line, the Mildmay line, the Windrush line, the Weaver line, the Suffragette line and the Liberty line – were designed to better reflect the diversity of the city and its communities. The revamp will also cost £6.3m ($8.8m) and has come under criticism from the Conservatives.
TfL’s customer service director, Emma Strain, said choosing the new names had been a challenging task. They had to work out how to fit the six lines onto the map, what colours to use, and ensure the names were easy to pronounce. Furthermore, the names would be in use for decades, so it was a big responsibility to represent the diversity of London’s communities. Simon Yewdall, strategy director at DNCO, a creative company that assisted with the project, said that they had spent weeks riding the London Overground lines, talking to Londoners, poets, writers, and experts on the history of the lines.
The revamp will include updating customer information such as maps, issuing new versions in print and online, re-recording public address announcements, and updating around 6,000 station direction signs. The vast majority of the £6.3m budget will go towards the update of customer information. TfL has split the budget over two annual Greater London Authority (GLA) budgets.
The overhaul is expected to strengthen the identity of the six segments of the London Overground lines, as the names should resonate with the communities that they serve. TfL has been deliberate about the names it has chosen, intending to celebrate the diversity of London. The project was touted for a number of years and was pledged in Sadiq Khan’s 2021 Labour mayoral manifesto
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