London Overground: new names & colours - EDITED 16/05/24

[SarahLS]

Dear Open Data users,

As you may already be aware - details about London Overground’s new look were publicly released by TfL this morning. These changes are expected to be introduced across the London Overground network in Autumn 2024.
Please also see Made by TfL Blog post covering this.

Obviously this will significantly impact TfL Open Data users, and your apps/digital products which cover the London Overground network.

To provide some reassurance, we will be in touch over the next few weeks with information about design specifications + other guidelines, and more details on how we will be managing the changes to our open data that support this.

EDIT#1 (20/03/24): We have recently created a London Overground lines blog providing digital standards guidance for suppliers and third party developers, who will need to adapt their apps/websites/digital displays to reflect the changes by end of September 2024.

EDIT#2 (16/05/24): we have created two sample data files to provide examples of the current and proposed responses for the api.tfl.gov.uk/line/mode/overground API call:
1. OvergroundLines_Current.json (944 Bytes) - example of the CURRENT response;
2. OvergroundLines_Proposed.json (4.3 KB) - example of the PROPOSED (post-change) response.

If you have any concerns or questions relating to this, please add a comment to this post.

Many thanks
TfL Open Data team

[briantist]

@SarahLS This is going to be like ‘LM’ West Midlands Trains => is split into [‘LMLN’ London Northwestern Railway’ , ‘LMWM’ West Midlands Railway in publicly material, but not in the timetable data or legality of tickets?

(I did this for LOROL in the past…!)

And so will we purge the London Overground name from the output totally and just show the we names or are these London Overground Subnames with new colours?

So, we don’t say London Underground Bakerloo Line just Bakerloo Line ?

So in this details page the orange TfL markers become … ?

[mjcarchive]

Status update information has been particularly confusing as LO has grown and grown. If they really are to be treated as separate lines it should help.

I would have kept the Goblin (as quite a few call it) line name but promoted it to official brand status. I can see that the traditional “North London Line” name is no longer specific enough.

[briantist]

More comments here - https://www.londonreconnections.com/2024/the-big-split-overground-line-names/

[briantist]

Notes that the European timetable changes dates for 2024 are…

• 1 June 2024
• 8 December 2024

[briantist]

Here’s my first attempt with the concept.

[nickp]

I like the idea, but the colours are very close to the tube ones. Would it be practicable to do a hollowed-out version?

[briantist]

@nickp Thanks! At the moment the system uses a foreground and background combination for all UK services

Personal nationalstatus | Network Rail Dashboard

For TfL the colours follow the TfL coroprate guidance Design standards - Transport for London

[briantist]

New colours (probably) on the unknotted map, with Bakerloo, District and Southern trains shown where they share tracks.

[SarahLS]

SEE EDIT IN MAIN POST: 20/03/2024
We have recently created a London Overground lines blog providing digital standards guidance for suppliers and third party developers, who will need to adapt their apps/websites/digital displays to reflect the changes by end of 2024.

[briantist]

@SarahLS

Thanks, that’s very helpful.

[ndjik]

super helpful, thank you!

[SarahLS]

We have created and uploaded two sample data files to provide examples of the current and proposed (post-London Overground rebrand change) responses for the api.tfl.gov.uk/line/mode/overground API call.
See EDIT#2 (16/05/24) in main post above.

[Richard-GS]

Hi, I am currently using the new api.tfl.gov.uk/trackernet/LineStatus for line statues. Do we know if any changes are being made to this feed with the introduction of the new lines?
Thanks

[LeonByford]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

By new lines, do you mean the naming of the London Overground lines?

London Overground line naming

[Richard-GS]

Hi, yes, the lines like “Windrush”, “Lioness”. We realise that these new lines are official unveiled as of 23rd September, just wondered if they would be reflected in the feed on this day, so I can prepare.
Thanks

[LeonByford]

I’d like to clarify that the new line names will be introduced by the end of 2024. We haven’t announced a specific date for this just yet.

It is my understanding that the new names will be reflected in the LineStatus feed, but I can’t give any indication of timing at the moment. We recommend using our unified API for retrieving line statuses.

We will update this thread with any new information about the London Overground line naming.