Many countries have had dedicated railway services for the delivery of postal
mail
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...
.
Examples include:
* In Australia, the
Travelling post office, Queensland
* In Austria, the (1850–2004)
* In France, the (1984–2015) were rail cars built specifically for ', which had run rail services since 1846
* In Germany, as well as the (from 1840s), several cities have their own mail trains, including:
** in Berlin
** in Munich
* In Switzerland, the has run since 1847
* In the United Kingdom, the
Travelling Post Office
A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route.
The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performe ...
(1830–2004) was a service where post was sorted en route
** The
London Post Office Railway
The Post Office Railway, is a narrow gauge, driverless underground railway in London that was built by the Post Office with assistance from the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, to transport mail between sorting offices. Inspire ...
(1927–2003) operated in dedicated tunnels under London
* In the United States, the
Railway Mail Service
The Railway Mail Service of the United States Post Office Department was a significant mail transportation service in the US from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. The RMS, or its successor the Postal Transportation Service (PTS), ...
(1862–1978) of the United States Postal Service carried the vast majority of mail from the 1890s until the 1960s
** The Railway Mail Service used
railway post office
In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly tr ...
s within passenger services to sort post en route
** The use of the
Chicago Tunnel Company
The Chicago Tunnel Company was the builder and operator of a narrow-gauge railway freight tunnel network under downtown Chicago, Illinois. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban even though it operated entir ...
for mail freight inspired the London Post Office Railway
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