The end of an era: Is Royal Mail abandoning rail transport?

Royal Mail will continue to use rail services for mail transport across the country!

This is what a Royal Mail representative told the Railway Supply editorial office:

“Royal Mail will continue to use rail services to transport mail across the country however our own freight trains are at the end of their operational lives.  The trains are almost 30 years old and it is increasingly difficult to secure parts for maintenance and the routes we need to meet our service requirements.

To improve reliability, increase cost effectiveness and remain consistent with our environmental goals, over the coming months we will cease operating our own trains whilst continuing to use a mix of rail, road and air to transport mail to all corners of the UK.”

Guidance:

• Our six trains are almost 30 years old, around twice the industry average of 16 years.
• There are no planned job losses for Royal Mail employees as a result of this change. Staff are expected to be redeployed into other roles.
• Nationally, the additional driving workload will create more than 30 full-time driving jobs.
• Transporting more mail by road instead of rail will help improve reliability as well as bring the additional cost benefits.
• Royal Mail is the greenest delivery company in the UK with the lowest reported carbon emissions per parcel, the UK’s largest EV delivery fleet and recently made one of the largest deployment commitments for HVO biofuel.
• Royal Mail remains committed to achieving Net-Zero by 2040. It currently has c.5,000 electric vans in operation and has deployed over 10 million litres of HVO fuel since June 2023.
• The move is broadly neutral in terms of CO2e emissions.

Rail business, industry, and railway technology news from Railway Supply that you might have missed:

New Railway Routes: The China-Europe Trans-Caspian Express Project