It's all change on the railways this weekend. Four of the train companies serving London and the Midlands cease to exist tonight, and are replaced tomorrow by four new companies owned by different conglomerates run by different boardrooms of grey-suited financiers. Customers will probably notice no immediate difference but gradually, over the next year or three, all the stations and rolling stock will be repainted, re-signed and rebranded in lovely new corporate colours. And then the new companies will raise their ticket fares to pay for it, because that's how non-nationalised railways work.
One of the expiring train companies is Silverlink. From tomorrow their backwater suburban "Metro" services will become part of Transport for London's empire, branded London Overground, and you'll be able to use your Oyster card to swipe in and out. From tomorrow (probably) these lines will appear on the London tube map, strangling its once-classic design "like an evil tangerine octopus". [More on the important topic of tube map "information pollution" on Radio 4 this afternoon, on iPM at 5:30pm, sandwiched between features on Pakistani politics and mental health blogging]. But Underground passengers inspired to switch to the Overground may be sorely disappointed. The trains are slow, messy, short, overcrowded and infrequent, which means a lot of hanging around on platforms waiting for something ramshackle to turn up. And it could be years before TfL investment starts to improve things.
Here's the dg guide to the new London Overground, should you plan to risk using it.
Going Overground
