Royal Mail Group silent on post trains return
Royal Mail stayed tight-lipped today about a claim that postal trains are set for a permanent return to the railways.
The state-owned group declined to comment on a report that it is poised to sign a one-year rolling contract with railfreight company GBRf to run mail trains between London and Scotland.
Royal Mail ended all postal services on the railways in January last year after failing to agree a new deal with incumbent operator English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS).
Royal Mail claimed EWS’s new bid was too expensive and moved all post to road and air.
The cost-cutting move controversially ended more than 160 years of mail trains and the famous Travelling Post Offices, which sorted letters on the move.
However, four daily London-Scottish services returned to the railways before Christmas under a one-off seasonal contract with GBRf. Two of the four trains are still running on a trial basis.
GBRf said punctuality of the services had been excellent, with no cancellations and only one train arriving late, according to the report in industry magazine Rail.
The two groups are now discussing continuing the services, which run on the West Coast Main Line between Willesden in north London and Shieldmuir, north Lanarkshire.
They could be extended to the East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh, the report said.
A Royal Mail spokesman declined to comment on the possibility of a permanent contract.
“The service is continuing while we evaluate its benefits to our operation,” he said.
“No decision has been made as to whether we are going to continue it or not.”
Royal Mail axed post trains as part of a huge overhaul designed to save money and improve the service.
There was little evidence of an upturn by last August, when the group faced a multi-million pound fine after missing all its delivery targets in the three months to June.
Latest figures have shown an improvement and Royal Mail said in late December – after the introduction of the seasonal rail service – that its Christmas performance had been one of the best on record.
Rail and bus company FirstGroup runs GBRf and passenger operators Hull Trains, Great Western and Great Western Link, Transpennine Express and Scotrail.
