The New Overground Line Names: Papering Over the Cracks

Photo Courtesy: Simon

Sadiq Khan’s announcement that the six London Overground lines would be given names has been met with mixed reaction, and like many, I was not impressed. 

Don’t be mistaken, this is not another polemic against the fact that the new names celebrate diversity and multiculturalism - The Telegraph, for example, published their own ‘non-woke’ list of names. In fact, I welcome the idea that the train lines used by millions of ordinary Londoners will now reflect their history and culture, rather than naming them after monarchs who’ve never set foot on public transport. 

Aside from the fact that some of the names sound a bit clunky and will inevitably become shortened (the Suffragette line has already been dubbed the ‘suffy g’ by the internet), my issue is with the £6.3 million spent on the policy - a colossal budget that has made no tangible difference to the lives of the roughly 5 million people who use the unreliable, underfunded, and unsafe TFL services every day. It’s like painting the skirting board on a house with no roof.

Take the Elizabeth line for example; needing to regularly commute to Ealing, I am dependent on it. There has not been a single day that I have not scrambled to get to my job on time, as the Elizabeth line will either be cancelled (affected 5,000 trains in 2023), inexplicably delayed (1 in six), or will choose at random which stations it does or doesn’t stop at.

It is statistically one of Britain’s worst rail services, despite costing over £19 billion and having been completed just two years ago. The older tube lines have problems that range from motor failures, terrible air quality and even a shortage of trains. The money spent to rebrand the Overground could have been used to try and chip away at these endemic issues with public transport in London.

But what is even more troubling about the state of TFL is just how unsafe it has become to travel on public transport in London. Theft on the underground rose by 83% last year, 33% of women have been victims of sexual offences on public transport, and a woman was even raped on the Picadilly line in 2020. I myself have been mugged, verbally abused, and sexually harassed whilst travelling with TFL in the last year. If even one transport officer were to be stationed on every train service, millions of Londoners would have safer journeys. 

I’m sure that Sadiq Khan’s decision to rename the Overground lines was meant with only good intentions, to make the tube map brighter and pay tribute to the rich history of London and its marginalised groups. However, with mayoral elections looming, perhaps it is time to address the problems with London’s transport at its root, rather than wasting money papering over the cracks at its surface.