2017年CRI UKMail Rail lets tourists visit London's secret postal railway

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Few visitors to London realise that the Underground isn't the only subway train beneath the streets of the British capital.

70 feet below ground level, the world's first driverless, electrified¹ railway was built as a vital artery² for Britain's postal³ system for 75 years, transporting letters, telegrams and packages across a 10 kilometre stretch of London at speeds of up to 56 kilometres per hour.

It's now been opened up to the paying public, who can ride in glass-roofed carriages, through dark and dingy⁴ tunnels, on a journey that takes 20 minutes to complete.

The deputy director of the Postal Museum is Tim Ellison.

"It's never been accessible before and our project is really opening it up for the first time so people can see the infrastructure⁵ and see what it provided in terms of keeping the system moving."

Mail Rail sits across the street from the newly renovated⁶ Postal Museum, which has opened to the public in advance of the Mail Rail ride which begins at the beginning of September. A single adult ticket – costing 16 pounds, or about 21 US Dollars – gives admission to both.

For those who prefer not to experience the cramped⁷ and claustrophobic conditions, the museum offers an interactive⁸ journey through 500 years of Britain's Royal Mail.

"There's an audio-visual experience, which tells the story of the people that worked on the network, how they kept the network going and what the network did. When you're in Mail Rail, you're within our best exhibit, if you like, you're within the structure of it."

Visitor Margot Hauer says the museum is a reminder⁹ that, despite the speed of modern communications, a personal touch is still vitally important.

"When communication and when reaching out to people is so easy, whether it's on Facebook, or Instagram, or Snapchat, I think by contrast the effort and the conscious effort you make when you send someone a postcard or a letter is amazing."

Ellison concedes the museum serves up a healthy dose of nostalgia¹⁰, particularly in an age of almost instantaneous communication via email, messages and various social networks, but he believes there'll always be a role for Britain's postal service in knitting people together.