A RAIL COMPANY has a fleet of specialist trains to minimise travel disruption in bad weather.

Network Rail’s 12 snow and ice treatment trains will travel 161,296 miles, the equivalent of six times around the world, scraping ice off the tracks using metal brushes and spraying thousands of litres of anti-icing fluid to prevent the formation of ice.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will also run “ghost trains” overnight to help keep tracks clear and its new fleet of Thameslink trains feature a special snow mode to help braking.

John Halsall, Network Rail’s managing director in the south east, said: “We’ve been preparing for winter for months and are working 24/7 to keep passengers moving.

“We’ve also improved our extreme weather forecasting so we can stay one step ahead of Mother Nature.”