please empty your brain below
I caught an updated Windrush line train yesterday. The updated line diagrams are a huge improvement.

I’m not surprised that the updates to the tube carriage maps will wait until the maps were going to be refreshed anyway. If I’m recalling correctly it was several years after Greater Anglia services transferred to London Overground until the Victoria line in-train diagrams you highlight had their original Overground labels added.

Dan | 24.11.24 - 7:10 a.m. | #

The TfL Go app team has been painfully slow to bring out improvements to what could be an excellent app. Still no disruption notifications or account login. And very limited bus departure functionality. So I'm not that surprised we're going to have to wait a little longer to see the rebranded Overground lines in there (although they're usually pretty quick with map updates).

I do hope TfL prioritises the in-car line diagrams for the Victoria line. Even some stickers would help.

JP | 24.11.24 - 8:08 a.m. | #

I got a Windrush line yesterday and actually got surprisingly excited when I heard the onboard announcement start with "this is a Windrush line".

Nick | 24.11.24 - 8:27 a.m. | #

Sticking vinyl on signs is easy, rewriting software is harder.

A very telling comment. Thirty years ago people would have said 'this is an easy change - we'll just amend the software' Now software's complexity and critical nature (which achieves marvellous things in many ways) shows its downside. This is certainly not the first time a real-world hardware change beats software.

I really hope the programmers have now coded the programs so that if a future mayor decides to change some or all of the names it can be done with a simple one-programming-line change per TfL-line.

Pedantic of Purley | 24.11.24 - 10:19 a.m. | #

The DLR on-train auto announcements still tell passengers to change at Stratford for “London Overground North London Line”.

Kim | 24.11.24 - 10:33 a.m. | #

The Hackney Central/Downs sign is quite satisfying.

TW | 24.11.24 - 11:04 a.m. | #

I didn’t expect the Lioness line colour to look so similar to the Overground colour. In my mind it was a little more yellow. Now I just need someone to lay out the original East London line tangerine, Overground orange and Lioness line whatever it is, as a comparison.

dg obliges:
                                             
                                             
                                             

Auntie Susan | 24.11.24 - 11:04 a.m. | #

Oh wow! Thank you.

Auntie Susan | 24.11.24 - 12:31 p.m. | #

In my view the whole point of giving the overground lines individual names was to help the typical Victoria Line passenger faced with the Overground bar of ambiguity.

Still Anon | 24.11.24 - 1:12 p.m. | #

Arguably it's the others that are wrong and the Mildmay is shown correctly without 'line' on the map, as all the tube lines don't have 'line'. The only exception is the Elizabeth line, but we all know why that is.

Peter | 24.11.24 - 2:16 p.m. | #

Looks like they will “waste public money on a reprint” after all.

Kim | 24.11.24 - 2:33 p.m. | #

Think that you, and others, are being too empathetic with TfL programmers. Not done any programming since the BBC computer, but a simple change of name and/or attributes associated with it should be easily altered by a revised look-up table, not altering the basic programming. The Windrush line is no different than the Victoria line. Not the same as the introduction of the Hopper Fare that needed a complete rewrite.

Michael Jones | 24.11.24 - 3:55 p.m. | #

"Not done any programming since the BBC computer, but..." may be my favourite armchair expert comment ever :)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 24.11.24 - 3:57 p.m. | #

The small print on the line diagrams in the Overground trains dates them to June.

martin | 24.11.24 - 4:18 p.m. | #

I suspect the problem is twofold:

1. Most screens have just enough space for 11 tube lines, DLR, Crossrail and overground. 14 slots. Not 19 all of a sudden
2. The existing line is 6 lines pretending to be one. When someone wrote that software, did they ever expect it to be broken up? (See also Northern line) Therefore you can’t just change Overground route to Watford Junction to Lioness. You have to split it all up first.

And I’ve not done any programming since Saturday morning!

Kirk | 24.11.24 - 5:00 p.m. | #

Don't think it was mentioned, there's also TFL's own (not yet updated) online PDF map which they incorrectly refer to as the "Standard Tube map".

Patrick | 24.11.24 - 5:12 p.m. | #

My immediate reaction on seeing the Hackney Central sign was "It's not on the Victoria line and Hackney Downs is not on the Met line". Not overly impressed.

Nick K | 24.11.24 - 6:14 p.m. | #

The Standard tube map has just been updated, if you want to download a copy.

And if you see any paper copies I would suggest grabbing one because they may not be around for very long.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 24.11.24 - 7:31 p.m. | #

TfL are being fobbed off by their developers if they think that updating the digital status boards is harder than printing and applying all those vinyl stickers for station signs.

The whole point of digital status boards and online APIs is that they are meant to be easier to update - adding new lines and status categories should be a straightforward task.

ChrisMitch | 24.11.24 - 8:26 p.m. | #

ChrisMitch,

Possibly easier to update in the sense that you only have to update the one API not each app located on thousands of machines.

But that still means you have to update the app correctly. And the screen is just what the customer sees (and is probably the easy part of the upgrade). What lies behind that is hard - and you have to test very thoroughly to make sure it is working and testing is, or should be, time consuming.

Pedantic of Purley | 24.11.24 - 9:07 p.m. | #

I'm kind of glad they're not bothering to update the in-car diagrams on non-Overground trains because that means the secret Crossrail extension south of Abbey Wood will remain. (Take a close look at the map the next time you're on a Piccadilly line train.)

swirlythingy | 24.11.24 - 10:53 p.m. | #

The updated tube and rail map is also incorrect, because it still shows Southern as going to Hemel Hempstead and Thameslink as going to Orpington when the latter's a limited service.

ASL | 25.11.24 - 7:53 a.m. | #

Line-branded timetables for each line are now available (one set for the next three weeks, and one set for the next five months).

diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.11.24 - 9:44 a.m. | #

Seems that some software IS easier to do than stickers.

Our app managed it...

Brian Butterworth | Homepage | 25.11.24 - 10:45 a.m. | #

TfL Website Status Info now showing all individual lines...

tim... | 26.11.24 - 11:28 a.m. | #

As a south Londoner, I am still hoping for the futher integration of the rail lines with the TFL maps, apps, notifications, etc., in the way that the overground integrated some of them. TFL still depicts south London mainly as a transportless white nothing - but it is abundantly served with train lines and we use these heavily, and change between them and TFL lines. The way the TFL map makes it seem very convoluted to travel from Waterloo to CLapham Junction, for example, when it's just an 8 minute train journey away always bothers me.

Susannah | 26.11.24 - 7:09 p.m. | #

The tfl website is showing the different lines but the details when you expand each tile are for the whole of LO

David | Homepage | 02.12.24 - 9:23 p.m. | #











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