The story behind the Punjabi signs at Southall station
Southall station gives the town's name in English and in Gurmukhi script. The signs reflect a Punjabi community that has shaped Southall for more than 70 years, and they were kept when the station was rebuilt for the Elizabeth line.
People arriving at Southall station are welcomed in two languages. Above the entrance and on the platforms, the station name appears in English and in Punjabi, written in Gurmukhi script as ਸਾਊਥਹਾਲ.
These bilingual signs have become one of the best-known sights in west London. They are a daily reminder of the Punjabi community that helped give the town its nickname, "Little Punjab".
A community built over generations
Southall's Punjabi links go back to the 1950s. Workers from Punjab came to the area then to take jobs in local factories.
Over the following decades families settled, businesses opened and places of worship were set up. The Broadway and the streets around it became one of the best-known South Asian shopping and food areas in Britain.
The bilingual signs at the station are generally dated to the mid-1990s. They were put up to recognise the established Punjabi-speaking community. Gurmukhi is the script most often used to write Punjabi, and it is the script of the Sikh scriptures.
Kept through the Elizabeth line upgrade
The station opened in May 1839 on the Great Western Railway's main line from Paddington. It was rebuilt as part of the Crossrail project, and Ealing Council approved the plans in 2015.
Network Rail opened the new station building on 26 August 2021. It has a larger steel-and-glass ticket hall, a new footbridge, and lifts that give step-free access to the platforms for the first time. New information screens and ticket machines were added at the same time.
When the old building was replaced, the Punjabi lettering stayed. The new purple Elizabeth line signs above the entrance show the name in both English and Gurmukhi. The station's roundels, the familiar circle-and-bar symbol, also show the name in both scripts, which makes Southall's roundel the only dual-language one on the London network.
Elizabeth line services now run through Southall between Reading and Heathrow in the west and central and east London. The station is one of the busiest on the western branch of the line.
More than a station name
Every so often the signs are drawn into national arguments about language and identity. Local people have pointed out that they have been there for around three decades, put up to recognise a community that has been part of Southall for generations.
For many commuters it is simply their stop. For others, especially families who have lived in the area for generations, seeing the town's name in Punjabi on the way out of the station is a familiar welcome home.