Royal
Mail

is
planning
to
transfer
its
last
movements
of
mail
from
its
own
trains
to
a
mixture
of
road
and
third-party
rail.
The
main
reason
is
understood
to
be
the
high
cost
of
electric
traction.

The
change,
which
is
set
to
take
place
this
October,
would
mark
the
end
of
almost
two
centuries
of
mail
trains.
One
of
the early
Acts
of
Parliament
about
railways,
passed
in
1838,
obliged
the
companies
to
carry
mail
bags.

There
was
a
brief
gap
after
Travelling
Post
Offices,
which
were
mobile
sorting
offices,
were withdrawn
in
November
2003.
The
Post
Office
underground
railway
in
London
was
closed
at
the
same
time.

However
simple
tenders,
carrying
trolleys
of
mail
bags,
returned
to
rail
on
a
couple
of
routes
soon
afterwards,
and
have
been
running
until
now.

It
is
also
understood
that
Royal
Mail
will
sell
the
Class
325
fleet,
which
has
bodies
designed
to
carry
trolleys
on
board.