+ COMMENT: Sad news for Londoners. More transport confusion

Visitors and Londoners will soon have to get used to some politically motivated Overground names as the latest controversial renaming by London Mayor Sadiq Khan begins to be seen.  

Long time BTN readers may recall the suggestion to rename the Circle Line was thrown out as being ‘too expensive’. In the past it was a circular line.  It currently runs from Edgware Road to Hammersmith via Aldgate, and is now a misnomer.  It should be a priority to be renamed the Thames line, much of the route being parallel to the River Thames.  

“What the Lioness line has got to do with the London rail network?”, was an anonymous comment.  “It does not even stop at Wembley Stadium.  I will go along with the Windrush line, but what about an earlier generation of refugees such as the Huguenots, and Jewish migrants from Russia”.  

“If you are going to rename the lines at least use names that Londoners and foreign visitors associate with the route.

“The Mildmay line needs to go back to being the North London line, The Weaver line, the South London line, and the Suffragette line, the Arsenal – Spurs to show passion.  To call a suburban London train line ’The Liberty line’ is plain daft.  Romford to Upminster, East of London line says where it is located”.

The cost of the 2024 rebranding project is put at £6.3m. 

If you are trundling along Finchley Road, London’s main arterial highway at the maximum allowed 20mph you will pass Frognal station, which is on the Mildmay line.  Check where it goes.

Khan is a political animal.  What his aspirations are with the next London election due in 2028 we do not know.  Let’s hope that a revitalised Conservative Party can put up a strong candidate, rather than the lacklustre nominee of 2024. 

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/london-overground/

https://tfl.gov.uk

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READERS' COMMENT

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David Starkie, United Kingdom

Bonkers scheme. The editor mentions Huguenots, and Jewish migrants. The Polish Resettlement Act, 1947, was Britain's first large-scale immigration legislation (quarter million Polish refugees).