Crossrail 1 gains a line name

To say I'm unimpressed is an understatement. Crossrail is much easier on the tungue and also makes more sense as it actually describes what it does.

Also calling it the "Elizabeth line" makes it harder to distinguish from an ordinary tube line, e.g. Jubilee.

Just no no no

Edit: the only saving grace is if they call it the Elizabeth for official/ceremonial purposes but for operational purposes still keep Crossrail e.g. Roundels, signs, "change here for Crossrail"

Agreed. Disappointed is the biggest understatement of the year. What on earth is going on?

To all intents and purposes it should be seen as just that - albeit built to main line gauge like the Met, District etc.

Two years before opening seems to be standard practice for renaming a line - cf Jubilee. Will she come back in 2018 for the official opening, or delegate that to her son as she did the Jubilee Line?

The Queen is actually older than the Northern Line Extension - the one to Morden!

Now, how about names for the Overground lines?

For XR2, how about the Palace Line (as in Alexandra, Buckingham, Nonsuch, and Hampton Court, all to be served by it. (If the Balham Bulge gets any bigger, we might be able to add Crystal to that list!)

Just to confuse matters the Standard reports that the Shenfield line will be called Crossrail from "next May" - not clear whether that means 2016 or 2017, but presumably the latter when the 345s start to appear, only taking the Elizabeth name when trains actually start to cross London at the end of 2018. (Initially only from Abbey Wood, I would guess the Shenfield services would only be renamed in 2019 when they are plugged in to the core in 2019 - nevertheless it will have had four names in as many years - Greater Anglia, TfL Rail, Crossrail, and Elizabeth.)
Not clear whethger the Heathrow Connect services will be rebranded in may 2018 when tfL rail/Crossrail takes them over, or when they are plugged in to the core.

www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/crossrail-named-the-elizabeth-line-royal-title-unveiled-as-the-queen-visits-bond-street-a3186791.html

I wonder if the beancounters who came up with this imagined how weird this sounds, at least to me:

"This is an Elizabeth Line train to Abbey Wood"

Just doesn't sound right

Perhaps Londoners will just call it the Lizzie Line - that has a certain euphony. After all, that's more or less what they did with the Bakerloo.

It's not the 'enigma wrapped up in a whatsit' but a sycophant wrapped up in a knighthood

I hope you're not suggesting that Prince Harry (official name Henry) has designs to usurp his nephew's and niece's places in the succession. The last person to try that move came to a sticky end under a Leicester car park.

Renaming the line achieves absolutely nothing and will most likely come at an unreasonably high cost.

And if the service is not up to what it should be, the Lizzie Line will soon become the Lousy Line!

Too many syllables. Although 'Liz Line' does have a nice ring to it. Don't know what was wrong about 'Crossrail' though, something tells me TfL have too much money, I'll be lobbying for cheaper fares next January.

I think this is a terrible decision.

In principle I have nothing against the name, however the issue is that it sounds like an Underground line.

Crossrail is fundamentally different to the Underground - it's designed and built on a larger scale, it's more of an express service (in central London, ironically the opposite will be true on the runs out to Reading and Shenfield), and its boundaries go much further than any Underground line. Naming it up as a pseudo-Underground line, especially using a name with no geographical or conceptual linkage to the route, does not draw attention to any of these differences.

The name Crossrail sounds just right, I can't see any real benefit in going to the expense of changing it. Perhaps "Elizabeth Line" should have been kept in the back pocket for if/when the Northern Line gets split? :-)

I doubt TfL had much say in this. This will be a political thing given Boris has suggested it more than once. While changing signage is not great shakes I do wonder whether things like signalling system designs, asset management systems etc which almost certainly will have been predicated on being called "Crossrail" will have to be changed or whether this is purely a public branding exercise? If it's not the latter then the contractors will be licking their lips at the prospect of contract variations which will, of course, (sucks teeth) be a bit pricey. You know how it is!.

The double irony is that there is an American lady called "Elizabeth Line" who's taken to Twitter!

It is actually rather like the Metropolitan Line in many respects.
Larger scale? Both use Main line sized trains
Express? Number of stations in Zones 1-3 ten
Further out? Reading is not much further out than Chesham, and if you include the Watford and Amersham lines there is probably more Metropolitan mileage outside Greater London than there is Crossrail/Lizzie