Sadiq Khan has chosen the Windrush line as his favourite part of the £6.3m rebranding of the London Overground.
The Windrush line, which is displayed as two red lines on the newly redrawn Tube map, links Highbury & Islington with New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon.
The mayor, at an official unveiling at Dalston Junction station, was joined by special guests with personal connections to the Windrush generation including food entrepreneur Levi Roots, who was born in Jamaica and whose parents came to the UK from the Caribbean to build a new life for themselves and help build Britain.
Also present were singer Mica Paris, whose grandparents were Jamaicans and came to the UK on the HMT Windrush, and Windrush Foundation chief executive Arthur Torrington.
Can Sadiq name all the new London Overground lines - and their colours? Yes he Khan… 👏 pic.twitter.com/Ezcfu2yNGi
— Ross Lydall (@RossLydall) November 28, 2024
Mr Khan, asked to name a favourite, told The Standard: “For a variety of reasons it’s the Windrush line.
“Speaking to Arthur Torrington… one of my heroes is Mica Paris, and Levi Roots – they’re here today.
“These are children of the Windrush generation whose names we know because they are celebrities.
“But there are many of the Windrush community who aren’t celebrities – they worked in London Transport, they worked in our hospitals. My father’s friends were from that generation, driving buses across London. That’s especial because it’s personal.
“But I [also] love the Lioness line, because I was there at Wembley [at the Euro 2022 final], when we finally won a tournament.
“I’m too young to remember 1966. The great thing about [England’s victorious captain] Leah Williamson is that she is standing on the feet of the great Bobby Moore. We should celebrate our success.”
The Overground rebranding sees it identified as six separate parts of the same wider network – in addition to the Windrush line and the Lioness line, there is the Weaver line, the Mildmay line, the Liberty line and the Suffragette line.
Passengers can change between the Overgound’s different lines and stations, and the London Underground, as before. There is no change to fares zones.
Mr Khan said he had found it “really hard” in the past, as a south Londoner more used to the Tube, to navigate the Overground.
“The joy of naming these six lines is we can tell untold stories about our great city. People will now know about the contribution made by the Windrush generation and their children, or working class women who campaigned as part of the Suffragette movement.
“These six lines, each have their own unique stories behind them. I’m hoping Londoners, visitors and others will ask questions about our history.”
Mr Khan side-stepped a question about whether he had rejected names such as the Brunel line, saying: “There were lots and lots of really good ideas from Londoners. The long, long, long list was really long.
“We spoke to local communities. We spoke to historians. We spoke to experts and then we whittled it down.”
How to spend £6.3m in 10 seconds… pic.twitter.com/HIPKuDaafw
— Ross Lydall (@RossLydall) November 28, 2024
Emma Strain, TfL’s customer director, who oversaw the renaming, said it had been a “really big task” to change all the signs.
She said: “I think it is huge, particularly for customers who are new to the Overground or don’t use it every day.
“It’s just like the Underground now – you have got a line name and a line colour. Once people get used to it, it will be a much easier way to navigate.”
She chose the Mildmay line as her favourite. “I’m really proud of the [new names]. I think they work really well as a set, and will soon become embedded.
“But, like the names of everything, like naming children, not everyone agrees. I don’t think we could ever pick names that everybody would have loved. But they tell some great stories about London.”
Asked why Mildmay was her favourite, Ms Strain said: “I love the story behind it. When we set up this project, it was all about discovering untold stories.
“The Mildmay Hospital story is wonderful. They work they have done since they were formed. The work they have done since the 1980s, supporting Aids patients. “The work they did during covid, supporting the homeless.
“It’s a wonderful story of a wonderful hospital, and now it has been brought to life through the line names.”
