NETWORK Rail says it is ready to tackle winter conditions on the South Western Railway (SWR) route.

The line, linking Weymouth to London Waterloo, is used by thousands of Dorset commuters every day.

Last year, as Britain suffered in the grip of The Beast From The East, hundreds of passengers became trapped on trains overnight after icy conditions brought their journeys to a halt.

In March 2018, as the UK battled plunging temperatures, strong winds and snow, an evening SWR service travelling from London the Weymouth broke down on the approach to Christchurch railway station

The third rail on the track – from which trains draw power – had frozen as a cold snap gripped the country, Network Rail explained at the time.

Night soon closed in, leaving commuters on five trains stranded without heating during one of the coldest March days in recent years.

Yesterday, Network Rail confirmed that eight multi-purpose vehicles, based at Effingham Junction, Surrey, and Totton, Hampshire, will travel 67,000 miles, the equivalent of more than two-and-a-half times around the world, de-icing the rails up until the end of March.

David Dickson, chief operating officer for Network Rail's Wessex route, said: "We have been working hard with SWR and our other train operators to prepare for cold weather on this route so we can keep our passengers moving when the temperature falls.

"Our fleet of multi-purpose vehicles will travel a huge distance to reduce the impact of the weather on train services from London Waterloo and down to the south coast.

"We will also have extra teams of people on the ground to respond to incidents and carry out regular inspections of our infrastructure throughout the winter period."

These specialist vehicles will spray anti-icing fluid to stop ice building up on the electrical conductor rails which power trains on the network.

Special heating strips have also been installed on the conductor rail in high-risk areas.

Low temperatures can also cause points, the movable sections of track trains use to move from one line to another, to freeze up, preventing trains from accessing certain routes or platforms.

Network Rail will use heaters on high-risk points and have installed NASA-grade insulation to keep them in working order.

SWR customer experience director Alan Penlington said: "We do everything we can to keep our customers moving during wintry weather including: monitoring and clearing stations overnight to ensure they are ready to open safely for the start of first services; running ‘ghost’ trains at night to clear the tracks of snow or ice; covering our train horns so they don’t freeze over; and spraying passenger doors with de-icer so they don’t jam and cause delays."