Commuter chaos on the cards as Southeastern mulls new winter timetable to brace for cold snap
Southeastern may have to introduce its winter timetable from later this week as the UK braces itself for heavy snow.
Southeastern, which serves routes in and out of London, Kent and East Sussex, said it may have to introduce its winter timetable from Thursday if necessary, warning that train times will change and peak services will be busier than usual.
It said passengers would be notified of any timetable changes 24 hours in advance.
Earlier today the Met Office issued snow and ice warnings for all of England and Wales for tomorrow and Wednesday.
It said parts of the UK could see up to 10 centimetres of snow but it was more likely that areas could see snowfall of between one to five centimetres.
In a statement on its website Southeastern said: "When the mercury plummets, even the lightest dusting of snow or rain can freeze and insulate the electric rail. This cuts power to our trains and stops them moving with any speed. By running the winter weather timetable we enable trains to stop and start less which means they are less likely to get stuck."
Earlier this month South Western Railway (SWR) said it would run its so-called ghost trains during the night over the coming weeks to clear tracks of snow and ice. Passenger doors will also be sprayed with a de-icer to prevent them from jamming.
Read more: Met Office warns UK of snow as Londoners brace for colder weather
Network Rail will also send eight heavy duty de-icing vehicles to clear train lines from London Waterloo all the way down to the south coast.
The railway owner will rely on real-time weather data from a string of monitoring stations to react to adverse conditions quickly and assess how they impact rail tracks and other infrastructure.