A new tube map has been designed, with the stations renamed after leading engineers to recognise the achievements and contributions of engineers, including Harry Beck, Brunel and Ada Lovelace.
Central section of the Engineering Icons tube map (c) TfL
The map has been released today (1st November), which is National Engineering Day, organised by the Royal Academy of Engineering to encourage people to consider the impact of engineers on the world around us.
London would not be the city it is today without the contribution of engineers who have been responsible for creating major transport projects in the capital in recent years. Hundreds of engineers worked to create the Elizabeth line, which opened in May 2022 and already carries more than four million people a week. Engineers also played a significant role in extending the Northern line to Battersea Power Station and London Overground to Barking Riverside, as well as the 700m transformation of Bank station, which was completed earlier this year.
The new Engineering Icons tube map has renamed both the lines and the stations.
Abbey Wood station has been renamed after Isabel Coman who is TfL’s Director of Engineering and who played a significant role in building the Elizabeth line
Ealing Common station has been renamed after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who is the most celebrated civil engineer of the nineteenth century and was responsible for designing and constructing the Thames Tunnel in London, as well as many other transport projects
Harrow-on-the-Hill station has been renamed after Sir Charles Kao who was known as the father of fibre optic communications and led the way in pioneering information technology, for which he won a Nobel Prize
Nine Elms station has been renamed as Eneni Bambara-Abban who is a multi award-winning robotics engineer and stars in the new series of This is Engineering, which aims to bring engineering alive for young people
Oxford Circus has been renamed as Harry Beck, who was an electrical draughtsman and created the iconic London Underground Tube map 90 years ago in 1933
Regent’s Park station has been renamed as Alexander Graham Bell who was the inventor of the first practical telephone
Shepherd’s Bush has been renamed as Professor Dame Ann Dowling, who was the first female President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and worked on pioneering noise-reduction research on Concorde
Uxbridge has been renamed as Dr Gladys West, who was the first woman to receive the Royal Academy of Engineering’s highest individual award, the Prince Philip Medal, for work that paved the way to Global Positioning System
Warren Street has been renamed as Ada Lovelace who is considered the world’s first computer programmer
Temple has been renamed Sir Joseph Bazalgette, which is apt as Temple is on the Embankment, which the engineer created as part of his great sewer project.
The symbols indicate if they’ve won awards, such as a Nobel prize or is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The themes for the Engineering Tube map correspond to the Tube and Elizabeth lines as follows:
- Bakerloo line – Sports, media and culture
- Central line – Life and health
- Circle line – Environment
- District line – Infrastructure
- Elizabeth line – Elizabeth line engineers
- Hammersmith & City line – Energy and power
- Jubilee line – Military and defence
- Metropolitan line – International
- Northern line – Computing, technology and AI
- Piccadilly line – Transport, mobility and flight
- Victoria line – Materials and manufacturing
There’s a zoomable version of the map to look at here, or you can download the map as a PDF file from here.
The Engineering Icons tube map (c) TfL
Andy Lord, London’s Transport Commissioner, said: “From the pioneering days of the first steam train to the cutting-edge technology of the new Elizabeth line in London, engineering has played a vital role in shaping transport in London and across the country. As an engineer myself, this map is inspiring and shows the breadth of what engineers can achieve.”
“With the re-design of the map, which was an idea inspired by our former Head of Engineering, Kuldeep Gharatya who shares my passion for improving diversity and inclusion across the industry, we hope that we can encourage people from all backgrounds to consider engineering as a rewarding career. Together, we can pave the way for the UK to lead in engineering.”
The map has also been created to celebrate the many different ways that engineering shapes lives, and to help encourage more people to consider engineering as a career.
What a delight! But it has a forerunner: The Great Bear, a 1992 lithograph by Simon Patterson. There’s a copy in the Tate, and another on my wall. As per this map, each line represents groups of people, including scientists – maybe some names are duplicated. Did the designer know The Great Bear? 😉
I may be mistaken but after a recent visit to the Brunel Museum I think it was Isambard’s father Marc who responsible for initiating the design and construction of the Thames Tunnel which Isambard worked on as well as a young man.
I would get out more but there’s no light at the endmof the tunnel.