RES to operate the trains from this new hub, also referred to as the London Distribution Centre or the Princess Royal Distribution Centre, at Stonebridge Park, near Wembley. Furthermore, RM commissioned ABB to manufacture 16 four-car British Rail Class 325 electric multiple units, which were designed specifically for the transport of pre-sorted mail. Post-privatisation of British Rail Following the privatisation of British Rail in the mid 1990s, all British TPOs were acquired along with RES by the privately owned company English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) in February 1996. Following the opening of the new London hub on 30 September 1996, British rail mail operations were drastically restructured; only dedicated mail trains were operated after this date while TPOs were no longer based at any main line stations, as it had been decided to centrally base all London TPOs at the hub instead. Accordingly, the final TPO services departed King's Cross, Euston, Liverpool Street and Paddington stations on 27 September 1996. The restructuring of services, intended to enable the faster delivery of mail to distant destinations, necessitated the streamlining of both mail pick-ups and drop-offs, a policy which resulted in many intermediate locations seeing the permanent withdrawal of coverage by TPOs. Instead, mail was to be transported by road to the 45 stations that would be served by the remaining TPO services. Despite this, the increasing efficiency of mechanical sorting in comparison to the hand sorting methods used onboard TPOs meant that the latter was becoming increasingly uneconomic regardless of these changes. A further factor that negatively impacted TPO operations was the Hatfield rail crash during October 2000, which led to numerous restrictions being imposed upon TPOs, including new speed limitations and numerous cancellations across many routes. There were also rising concerns over wellbeing of workers within TPOs, as there was little consideration towards crashworthiness or the wellbeing of the occupants in the event of a major accident. Furthermore, RM had increasingly decided to make use of other means of transporting mail, including aircraft and road vehicles. Amid these various factors, during 2003, it was announced that Royal Mail had decided to suspend all transportation of mail by rail. The discontinuation of TPOs reportedly saved RM £10m per year, while the contract to operate them reportedly equated to 10 per cent of EWS’ overall business, representing a major loss to the company. The last TPO services went out on the