Royal Mail Ditch Rail For Road

Royal Mail has announced that it will stop using trains to transport its post and revert to road haulage. As reported by railfreight.com, the move could generate an extra 10,000 trips for trucks per year [...]

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Royal Mail has announced that it will stop using trains to transport its post and revert to road haulage.

As reported by railfreight.com, the move could generate an extra 10,000 trips for trucks per year to do the same amount of work.  

DB Cargo UK is the contract holder with Royal Mail as the operator of the Royal Mail rail service and operates 13 trains a week, many of which connect North Lanarkshire’s Shieldmuir mail terminal with distribution centres in Daventry, London and Warrington.

The plan to sell off its freight trains is a major revamp in the wake of the Royal Mail’s owner International Distribution Services agreeing to sell the company to Daniel Kretinsky for £3.5 billion.

It ends a 194-year connection with Britain’s railways. Key to the decision is the cost of running older rolling stock.

In a statement, DB Cargo UK CEO Andrea Rossi said the ‘Royal Mail has officially informed us that it is to cease all its rail freight activities with effect from 10th October 2024’.

He added: “To learn that Royal Mail is now planning to rely solely on road haulage to move customers’ letters and parcels around the UK is not just disappointing for DB Cargo UK, but the wider rail freight sector too.”

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