audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Deep under the streets of London, a disused railway tunnel stretches for six miles. Opened in 1927, the mail line runs beneath Oxford Street in central London, and became the world's only electric underground railway dedicated to moving mail as driverless trains carried up to 12 million letters daily from East End's Whitechapel to west London's Paddington. A century ago, in the days of predominantly horse-drawn vehicles, congestion was causing delays to the movement of mail. In 1911 a railway report concluded London's traffic speeds would never surpass 6mph, convincing the British Parliament to approve plans to build the railway, which could run at 40mph. Fast forward almost 100 years and in 2003 Royal Mail said the line cost five times as much as using roads and the historic network was shut down. Closed for over a decade, there are now plans to reopen the London Post Office Railway - known to many as Mail Rail - as a tourist ride.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - The Royal Mail rail train also known as the Mail Rail, a 6.5 mile track connecting mainline stations to sorting offices that ran between 1927 - 2003 and employing 220 workers at its peak, is to hopefully ride again as the British Postal Museum and Archive has submitted a bid to the Heritage Lottery fund to make the ride available to visitors.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - A shunting vehicle sits in one of the many tunnels. The Post Office Underground Railway, also known as Mail Rail, silently and industriously ran for 6.5 miles under the streets of London largely unnoticed for more than three quarters of a century.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 24, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - A drawing of the Post Office underground railway. In its prime, a workforce of 220 kept the Mail Rail running, with he tunnels running beneath the city's iconic Oxford Street and, at one point, coming within a few feet of the Bakerloo Line.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - RAY MIDDLESWORTH, 57, who was a former worker on the railway is now one of a handful of workers who maintains the railway when it was decided that it be 'mothballed' rather than dismantled. This loco was known as the 'banana.'
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - View coming into the station. For more than three quarters of a century, the Post Office Underground Railway ran under the streets of London.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - An eery view of 'The Post Office Underground Railway', also known as the Mail Rail. Since 2003, the world's first driverless, electrified railway has laid dormant with just a handful of engineers to maintain it.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - The Post Office Underground Railway, the Mail Rail, silently and industriously ran for 6.5 miles under the streets of London largely unnoticed for more than three quarters of a century.
© Nick Cunard/ZUMAPRESS.com
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - Journalists prepare to embark on a ride on The Post Office Underground Railway, also known as the Mail Rail. From 2020, tourists will be able to ride the tiny trains, which are completely enclosed, and travel along the old tracks from Mount Pleasant station.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - During a press visit, journalists prepare to embark on a ride on The Post Office Underground Railway, also known as the Mail Rail.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - A bar of soap with the Queens crest can be seen.The tunnels still have a lot of artifacts that were used by Royal Mail before they finally closed in 2003. The experience is like traveling through a living museum.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - As part of a 22 million Euro scheme to create a new national postal museum in London, a section of the Mail Rail will be open to the public from 2020, so tourists can explore the underground network.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - Sides of the MR carriages are adorned with initials of UK monarchs.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - The Mail Rail was approved by an Act of Parliament a century ago and functioned well until it was decided that overhead costs were too much to keep it running and it was abandoned in favor of road transport.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
March 19, 2014 - London, England, United Kingdom - View of the main depot near Mount Pleasant. The tunnels have lain dormant for the past 11 years, with just a handful of engineers to maintain the network.
© Nick Cunard/zReportage.com/ZUMA Press
