London Once Had a Special Underground Railway That Carried Letters, Not Passengers

In the 20th century, a special underground railway operated beneath London, designed not for passengers but solely for transporting mail. Known today as the “Mail Rail,” it is considered one of London’s most unusual transport projects. Financial Times reported on it.

In the early 20th century, traffic on London’s streets made it increasingly difficult to deliver mail quickly across the city. To solve the problem, the idea of moving the postal service underground was proposed. Tunnel construction began in the 1910s, and the system opened on December 3, 1927.

The postal railway was approximately 10.5 kilometers long. It connected London’s major mail-sorting centers. Small electric trains traveled on narrow-gauge tracks and operated automatically without drivers. This was considered highly advanced technology for its time.

The system operated for 76 years, until 2003. Mail Rail was later discontinued because transporting mail by road and other vehicles had become more efficient and economically viable.

Interestingly, this unusual railway did not disappear completely. Part of it in the Mount Pleasant area was preserved and turned into a visitor attraction at the Postal Museum in London in 2017. Today, visitors can ride a special train through underground tunnels and see the routes once used to carry letters.

Thus, London once transported not people but millions of letters on underground trains. For its time, the system was an extraordinary engineering solution that accelerated mail delivery.