Part of the Mail Rail, a little-known 22-mile driverless electric railway that runs beneath the streets of London, will open to the public next year.

A Royal Mail train at the British Postal Museum.
A Royal Mail train at the British Postal Museum. <span class="media-attribution">Image by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/6038684987/in/photolist-acBQEp-fjDKw-6N64Ei-BfdW7-8w5ywj-5LL5ba-a4NW1j-pXeMvC-7zeHok-dhzwN7-7zitSu-acEEuf-7zitqL-88MgyV-iJYuz9-7r3B4T-acBQrc-acECNj-8s84Li-acEEBy-acED6A-qGxWvk-5NfkXq-7r7rPf-7r7uLG-askL4q-sq6Ye-3f7GPp-4fQsUh-bkUB7K-acEFeY-acEE67-acBRr2-hE5oza-acBRCP-7266RY-cBZ6Y-4n4NiQ-5yTdc3-y2qvF-cmoMYs-uji9Jd-7eWNge-foZ2ZR-9TjfVr-7Ksr2G-5jwRjt-5LQiSw-arrfM1-yo5YZa" target="_blank" rel="external">Matt Brown</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/" target="_blank" rel="external">CC BY 2.0</a></span>

The line, which opened in 1927 and was the first railway of its kind in the world, shuttled mail between sorting offices. It closed in 2003 but a stretch of it will reopen as part of the £26 million Postal Museum, which is opening in spring 2017 in Mount Pleasant, in Clerkenwell. The museum will cover five hundred years of British post, from Henry VIII to the Titanic and the post office cats, who once had their own wage slips and pension schemes. Read more: theguardian.com

Explore related stories

Dotonbori, Osaka, Japan. 

BIT 2025
Where to go in 2025: when to visit our Best in Travel winners

Dec 18, 2024 • 15 min read