Wapping Changes to London’s Metro

When I first found myself in Wapping London Underground Station around forty years ago it was dark and dank. It even had water running down its walls. The train serving the station was so old a member of the station staff had to kick more than one door to make them close. If the doors didn’t close the train wouldn’t move. And it took awhile to get moving.

As I took this decrepit train under the Thames I could not help thinking that the river could fall in at any moment. After all, this tunnel was probably the oldest tunnel in the world that had a train going through it. It was built in 1843 – the first ever tunnel under a navigable river.

So imagine my excitement when I recently used the new service. The old East London Line has been completely replaced – track, trains and stations – and been made part of the London Overground .

I travelled the entire length – I rarely do things by halves – from West Croydon to Dalton Junction. The trains themselves were really strange – there are no ends to the coaches. And like tube trains these trains had all the seats along their sides facing inwards. But unlike tube trains these coaches are wide so the floor space in the middle is huge. My son said the train was like a very long sausage. We have travelled on similar ones abroad but they had more seats.

Naturally I have a few complaints. The directional signage is poor – TfL has obviously left the job to a junior temp. That’s a bad move. The trains wait a very long time in each and every station – I hope that I was just unlucky but I fear it is deliberate.

They should have used the refurbishment as an opportunity to change some of the station names. I am a root and branch station name changer myself.

Finally I think London Overground is silly branding (if there is a sensible reason for its use I would like to hear it). I would give each of the the so-called overground lines their own name. It would make their use much easier. More people would use them too. The East London line could be renamed the Ravensbourne line but the name itself is not so important as its having a name.

I look forward to seeing the usage figures rise but I cannot help thinking that they could have had better results if the signage and station and line naming was more thought through. Naming is important and “London Overground” simply does not cut it.