The London Overground is being rebranded and divided into six lines with their own names and colours.

It currently appears on the Tube map as a sprawling orange network that some say has become too tricky to navigate.

The six lines will be renamed Mildmay, Liberty, Suffragette, Weaver, Lioness and Liberty.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said they celebrate “different parts of London’s unique local history and culture”.

Mildmay references a Shoreditch hospital that treats patients with HIV-related illnesses and will cover the Stratford and Richmond/Clapham Junction stretch.

Windrush honours the generation who arrived from the Caribbean and will be the new name for the Highbury & Islington and south London section.

The Suffragette line – between Gospel Oak and Barking Riverside – is in tribute to suffragette Annie Huggett, who lived in the area.

The Weaver line – in east London and Essex – references links to the textile trade.

Lioness – between Euston and Watford Junction – is in tribute to the success of England’s women footballers.

The Liberty line, covering the Romford and Upminster portion, recognises how Havering borough historically had more self-governance through a royal liberty.

The six sections will appear on the main Tube map as parallel lines in different colours when the rebranding is rolled out in the autumn.

Six thousand station direction signs and tannoy announcements will need redoing, as well as thousands of new Tube maps. The changes are estimated to cost £6.3m.

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London Overground was created in 2007 when Transport for London took over suburban rail lines from other operators.

It’s been extended several times, most recently taking over some services from Great Anglia in 2015, and now includes more than 100 stations.

The current map has been likened to a mass of orange spaghetti but the mayor hopes the changes will make things more straightforward.

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“Giving each of the Overground lines distinct colours and identities will make it simpler and easier for passengers to get around,” said Mr Khan.

The editor of transport website London Reconnections, John Bull, said the change was long overdue.

He predicted people would “grumble and moan about the names” but said that’s happened for “every single line that has been given a name over the years”.

“Frankly, it’s nice to have some stuff that represents things that have changed the lives of Londoners, among the references to queens that have tended to accrue up until now,” he said.

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