Royal Mail trains back on track

The reinstated mail train will deliver 1m letters a day

The Royal Mail plans to use trains to transport about a million letters a day between Scotland and London.

The company scrapped mail trains last year but is reintroducing the service after a successful trial.

The trains shipped 13 million letters around the country every day but the Royal Mail transferred the operation to other forms of transport in 2004.

However, the train will take the strain again with two services a day set to carry post.

GB Railfreight has the contract until March 2006, with an option of a 12 month extension, and will operate the service between Willesden, Warrington and Shieldmuir in Scotland.

The Royal Mail's network director, Paul Tolhurst, said: "[The trial service] has shown it has the flexibility to meet our distribution needs at peak times, for example during the busy Christmas period when we handle up to 120 million items a day.

"It has also been able to offer additional services at short notice when the country experienced poor weather conditions."

GB Railfreight's managing director, John Smith, said the company offered a "flexible, reliable and commercially viable rail option".