Former Royal Mail rail tunnels beneath London to open for public tours
Tunnels below the capital’s streets formerly part of Mail Rail will open for public tours again this autumn.
A number of dates have been announced by the Postal Museum between October and December.
It’s far from cheap however, with a 75 minute tour costing £58.
The tunnel’s were built almost 100 years ago in 1927 and were formerly the Royal Mail Railway until altered to simply Mail Rail in 1987.
It’s possible to ride a train though these tours allow the public to walk the line seeing sections otherwise off limits. However an award was announced in May 2024 for £400,000 to increase accessibility for train rides.
Tickets can be booked here. It’s unsuitable for those who are mobility impaired.
Royal Mail’s rail usage
The line’s full route ran from Paddington in the west to Whitechapel in the east before closing in 2003. By then the number of stations had reduced from eight to three.
While Royal Mail cut underground transportation of letters and parcels in London more than 20 years ago the national rail network was still used.
However in July this year it was announced the now-privatised company would cut usage, switching from rail to lorries. Which is sure to help congestion.
ouch that’s pricy – i’ll plan to do their touristic train ride instead some time!
You can see the tunnel network in the film Hudson Hawk, where it doubles as the filming location for the Vatican’s hidden railway network. It’s only in there for a minute or two but you can see the loading platform as well as the original flatbed trains. You even see Bruce Willis mailing himself to the Vatican, peering out of the box as he’s whisked away under the streets of ‘Rome’.
I think it’s a great idea to have the former Royal Mail rail tunnels reopened to the public. I would like to go there and to explore how it was first built underneath Central London. Very interesting to know the history of how it was built to deliver mail from the West End to the East End of London.
I visited these tunnels a few years ago as a part of a tour. It was rather interesting and most of it is well preserved!