Royal Mail`could halt underground railway'

The Royal Mail is considering mothballing a “unique” 75-year-old underground railway network to save costs, it was announced today.

The Mail Rail service, which runs from Paddington in west London to Whitechapel in east London, used to serve nine stations but now delivers post to only four.

Union officials were told today that the future of the system was being considered, with a clear hint that it could be closed.

David Chapman, Royal Mail’s London programme manager, said it was sensible to consider the future of Mail Rail given the financial losses being incurred by the postal business.

He said: “It serves fewer stations than originally intended and it costs us five times as much as moving mail by road. For a business losing #1.2 million a day, that is clearly not sustainable.”

Royal Mail said it wanted to hear suggestions and ideas from businesses, heritage and other groups about what should happen to the automated trains, tracks and tunnels.

Mr Chapman said the service was now “well past its prime” but he recognised the historical and heritage value of the underground railway, which is totally separate from London Underground’s Tube network.

Around 76 workers are employed by Mail Rail, whose trains run on 37 kilometres of track at speeds of up to 40 miles an hour.

The Royal Mail also announced it was studying the mail centre capacity that will be required in London over the next 15 years.

The amount of mail posted in London over the past five years has dropped by virtually the equivalent of a mail centre and volumes continue to decline because of the economic climate and increase use of the Internet.

The Communication Workers Union said it was concerned about any job implications of today’s announcement.