THE LONDON Overground running from Clapham Junction and throughout Brixton should be renamed the Windrush Line ahead of the 75th anniversary, a campaign group has said. 

Clapham Transport Users Group, a voluntary advocate body, is lobbying for the busy tube line to be revamped in commemoration of the mass migration of Caribbean migrants to Britain on 22 June 1948.

More than 300 passengers from across islands in the Caribbean responded to calls from the “mother country” amid labour shortages after the Second World War.

Many migrants went on to face racism and hostile environments while working for national organisations like the NHS and Transport for London (TfL).

The campaign comes after Sadiq Khan announced plans to rename London Overground services to reflect the capital’s diverse history before being re-elected as Mayor of London. 

The £4ml TfL backed scheme already planned to give new names to lines Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford, Watford Junction to Euston and Gospel Oak to Barking.

Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon as well as Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingfor and Romford to Upminster.

The Clapham Junction line runs through Peckham Rye which also stops through Brixton where the majority of the Caribbean community settled when they arrived in the “mother country”.

 Nick Biskini, a member of Clapham Transport Users Group, said that naming transportation lines are shaped by allusions to people or places throughout London. 

He added: “Windrush Line captures both a link with communities, who settled in Clapham and Brixton, and the Windrush ship which was both a physical and metaphoric representation of people’s journeys and distance travelled as a society.”

A Transport for London spokesperson said: “The Mayor’s manifesto set out his intention to explore renaming routes on London Overground, to give each individual route its own name and make the network easier to navigate. Following the pandemic we are able to take this work forward and are currently assessing the options. Money has been set aside in the budget to take this work forward.”