- By Thomas Mackintosh
- BBC News
The simplicity of the London Underground map, created in 1933 by Harry Beck, has made it a nationwide icon. On Thursday, Transport for London (TfL) introduced a makeover of the map, with new names and hues for its six London Overground strains. The BBC spoke to TfL and a artistic company concerned with the venture about how the names were chosen.
The London Overground – and its distinctive orange and blue roundel – began working in 2007.
At the second, its 113-station route orbiting the capital is marked by an orange line, however from autumn this service might be divided and every phase renamed as the Lioness line, the Mildmay line, the Windrush line, the Weaver line, the Suffragette line and the Liberty line.
“This is about telling the stories of London’s diverse communities,” TfL’s Emma Strain tells the BBC. “These names will be in use for decades – so that is a big responsibility.”
The venture has not been easy, Strain mentioned. TfL needed to work out how the strains would match on the map, what colors to make use of and had to verify the names were clearly audible over a tannoy.
“The Lioness line runs in parallel to the Bakerloo line so we needed to be careful there were not two tones of colours which were similar,” she mentioned.
Strain, TfL’s customer support director, mentioned at the coronary heart of the activity of naming every line was ensuring it had an id.
“There is a lot historical past in the Tube we needed the future to really feel commensurate. People will say ‘why do not you stick to what you already know?’
“The ‘east London’ or ‘north London line’ for me would have been a missed alternative,” she mentioned.
The workforce needed to find much less well-known elements of historical past, Strain mentioned.
The Windrush era were a type of tales the workforce determined to recognise, with Strain describing them as “a part of the material of TfL”.
“When Windrush communities got here to London they got here to a variety of places – a quantity labored for TfL in buses and on London Underground,” she mentioned.
“There are many sturdy ties to Caribbean communities in Dalston Junction, Peckham Rye and West Croydon, which enrich London’s neighborhood.”
Image supply, Getty Images
A gaggle of Jamaican immigrants new to London scrutinise a map of the Underground
The full longlist of names has not been disclosed, however Strain mentioned names of some influential folks were spoken about.
This included designer Althea McNish, who’s rumoured to have designed a textile sample used on the Tube’s seats.
Simon Yewdall, technique director at DNCO, a artistic firm which helped with the venture, mentioned his workforce spent weeks using the Overground strains, speaking to Londoners, poets, writers and consultants on the historical past of them.
They received “a whole lot” of ideas, he said. Londoners had been “extra open and courageous” than he was anticipating and wanted to celebrate “a better vary of tales and experiences”.
“Everyone spoke a few deep pleasure about London having so many individuals kind totally different backgrounds and experiences who come collectively,” he mentioned.
“It actually warmed my coronary heart.”
The final resolution to rename the six strains fell to TfL and the Mayor of London.
The revamp is predicted to price £6.3m and has drawn some criticism from Conservatives.
“People need to know they will get their trains, folks need to really feel secure. They do not need to know he’s spending goodness is aware of how a lot on PR folks deciding what to rename issues.”
While some commuters instructed the BBC they were happy, not each one was – you may hearken to their vary of views beneath.
Listen: What do Overground commuters take into consideration the new names?
Strain mentioned the cash had been cut up over two annual Greater London Authority (GLA) budgets and that the overwhelming majority would go in the direction of updating buyer data.
This consists of the redesign and redisplaying of maps throughout all Tube and London Overground stations and trains, in addition to issuing new variations in print and on-line.
Public deal with bulletins might be re-recorded and round 6,000 station path indicators up to date.
Strain known as debate about the new names “actually fascinating and wholesome”.
“I do not suppose we were underneath illusions we’d delight everybody. We have 9 million folks in London. It is various and that is what makes it good,” she mentioned.
What are the London Overground new line names?
Lioness line
Mildmay line
Blue parallel strains: It has been named after the small charitable hospital in Shoreditch, which performed an vital position throughout the HIV/Aids disaster in the 1980s.
Windrush line
Red parallel strains: Running by means of a number of areas with sturdy ties to Caribbean communities, together with Dalston Junction, Peckham Rye and West Croydon, it has been named to honour the Windrush neighborhood.
Weaver line
Maroon parallel strains: With stops together with Liverpool Street, Spitalfields, Bethnal Green and Hackney, the route travels by means of a number of areas of London identified for his or her significance in the textile commerce.
Suffragette line
Green parallel strains: Named to have fun how London’s East End working-class neighborhood fought for ladies’s rights, the line additionally runs to Barking, dwelling of the longest-surviving suffragette, Annie Huggett, who died aged 103.
Liberty line
Grey parallel strains: According to TfL, it’s named “to reference the historic independence of the folks of the borough of Havering”, through which it runs, as well as the celebrating “a defining function of London”.
