Monday 27 March 2023

TfL Announces Plans to Rename All Six London Overground Lines

TfL has earmarked £4 million for the work to rename the six London Overground routes.

£4 Million has been set aside in Transport for London’s (TfL) 2023/24 budget for the project


The allocation for renaming is intended to make it easier to navigate the routes, which have a complicated set of interchanges.

Plans to give each line its own name were included in Sadiq Khan’s election manifesto in 2021, as part of his stated aim to better-reflect the diverse history of the capital.
 
The six current London Overground lines are:

Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside

Highbury and Islington to New Cross/West Croydon/Crystal Palace/Clapham Junction

Euston to Watford Junction

Liverpool Street to Chingford/Enfield Town/Cheshunt

Romford to Upminster

Stratford to Richmond/Clapham Junction



The budget does not make clear when work on renaming the London Overground lines will begin, or how it will be carried out.  

The London Overground took over the lines previously run by Silverlink Metro in 2007, after the franchise was disbanded, with the aim of providing better connections outside of central London.

It has gradually been extended to incorporate all of the six lines currently operated, and today connects a total of 112 stations.


TfL announced that it will be delivering a range of schemes across the capital, including the rollout of the ULEZ to outer London, introducing the first of 54 new DLR trains, and unveiling the full peak timetable for the Elizabeth Line, due in May 2023.

Currently, the TfL style guide for referring to the various bits of the London Overground states

North London Line
is now ‘Overground Richmond/Clapham Junction – Stratford’
West London Line is now ‘Overground Willesden Junction – Clapham Junction’
DC line/Watford Euston  is now ‘Overground Watford Junction – Euston’
Gospel Oak to Barking is now ‘Overground Gospel Oak – Barking’
East London Line is now ‘Overground Dalston/Highbury & Islington – West Croydon/Crystal Palace/New Cross’

The former Greater Anglia lines added in 2015 have not been added to this list.