London's new Tube map: Elizabeth Line revealed on new design of iconic rail network

London's new Tube map has been released to include the Elizabeth Line, in the biggest change to the iconic design in recent history.

Transport for London (TfL) released the updated design on Thursday morning with the newest addition displayed as a white line with a double purple border, to make clear it is a railway and not a London Underground line.

The £19 billion Elizabeth Line, named in honour of the Queen, officially opens to the public on Tuesday 24 May and will initially run 12 trains an hour between Paddington and Abbey Wood, from Monday to Saturday.

It will provide step-free access from Reading and Heathrow to Shenfield and Abbey Wood through the centre of London. Trains will initially operate in three sections, which are expected to be integrated in the autumn.

Julie Dixon, Interim Customer and Revenue Director, said the new map will serve London and the south east "for hundreds of years to come".

The original Tube map was designed in 1931 by electrical draughtsman, Harry Beck, who compiled it in his spare time while he working for London Underground. It was initially rejected by London Transport officials before they changed their minds and published the design in 1933.

Dixon said it had been "both a challenge and a privilege" to update Beck's iconic 90-year-old design.

The front cover of the updated pocket Tube map has been created by London-based artist, Joy Labinjo.

Her original artwork, titled ‘Twist Out’, captures an intimate mother-daughter routine as a mother is seen preparing her daughter’s hair for a ‘twist out’ hairstyle, drawing on the artist’s life experiences and memories as a British-Nigerian woman. 

Ikea, which opens a new shop on the site of Topshop's former flagship Oxford Street store in autumn, has sponsored the relaunched tube map for a year.

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