The government has been urged to reduce track access charges and electricity costs for freight trains in a bid to get Royal Mail to reverse its decision to stop transporting mail by train.

In July, Royal Mail announced it would stop using its dedicated fleet of mail and parcel carrying trains in October due to the cost of running electric trains and because its purpose-built train fleet would require expensive investment to continue operations.

To make up the shortfall, Royal Mail said it would switch to delivering mail and parcels by road and has been investing in “green” trucks that use hydrotreated vegetable oil instead of diesel, as well as battery delivery vans. The firm has been running trains to transport post since 1830.

The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) has delivered a giant postcard to the Royal Mail head office calling for more mail delivered by train to cut the amount of road traffic.

While the firm’s 30-year-old red freight trains have been retired, Royal Mail started...