Anger as Royal Mail closes underground mail system

Royal Mail was attacked tonight for deciding to mothball a 75-year-old underground railway system which carries millions of bags of post every year.

The company said it could not afford to continue operating Mail Rail in London, which it estimated cost four times as much as transporting post by road.

The Communication Workers Union said it was angry at management’s “total disregard” for the 76 employees who work on the system, which runs for 10km through central London, 21 metres below ground.

Royal Mail said talks were now under way with a range of businesses about the future of the tracks, trains and tunnels.

David Chapman, London project manager, said: “As a business losing #1.1 million a day, we simply cannot afford to continue operating an underground railway that does not contribute substantially to our modern postal operation, and which costs us at least four times as much to run as the alternative of road.”

Royal Mail announced last November that it was considering closing the unique underground network, and confirmed today that it would definitely be mothballed.

Steve Jones, London divisional official of the CWU, said: “This decision is ill thought out and short sighted. The public and the workforce have been conned into believing that alternatives would be sought.

“They have not, and it is evident there was never any intention to do anything other than close the railway network.

“The Post Office should use a bit of imagination and look at ways of expanding its use, not close it down. The railway is part of London’s heritage, and any move to shut it would be a disaster.”

Mail Rail opened in 1927 on a line running east to west, and currently serves four stations.

The amount of mail carried underground has more than halved from 7 million bags a year to 3.4 million, the Post Office pointed out.

The Royal Mail said no workers would be made compulsorily redundant.