Commuters trying to get home on Southeastern trains from London Charing Cross are facing severe delays due to the snow and icy conditions.

Southeastern say there are delays to all lines between Dartford and Charing Cross, due to various problems and the weather.

Commuters trying to get home from the capital can use their tickets on local bus routes.

A spokesman for Southeastern said: “The weather forecast is for continuing snowfall and icy conditions across the south east overnight and into Thursday.

“We’ll be running a modified timetable tomorrow to provide a more reliable service for our passengers.

"This will mean reduced services on some lines, the closure of some stations and changes to the times of those trains that are running.”

“We’re advising passengers not to travel wherever possible, and strongly advise passengers to allow extra time for their journeys, and to check before they travel using the Southeastern website, National Rail Enquiries, the free ‘On Track’ app or follow @Se_Railway for live Twitter updates”

“All the revised train times have been uploaded to online journey planners, and for full details of the revised timetable and up-to-date travel information.

“As on Wednesday, we’ll be doubling the Delay Repay compensation on Thursday for any customers who may be affected by disruption – more details are available on our website.”

Overnight, Southeastern will be deploying every available train in its fleet, and the railway has invested millions of pounds to ensure that in such difficult circumstances it can run as many services as possible.

The train provider also say it will provide customers with helpful and up-to-date information.

Thousands of its staff have been working round the clock, in extremely cold conditions, to keep the network open and users informed.

Throughout the night, rail staff will be deploying de-icer units, snow ploughs and heating strips on the rails, heating points to prevent them from freezing and running empty ghost trains to keep tracks and overhead cables free of snow and ice.

The spokesman added: "When it snows in our part of the UK, we do have an enormous challenge to keep the service running.

"This is because our trains draw power from a third conductor rail running along the tracks.

"When this rail is covered with snow, ice forms and acts as an insulating layer, preventing trains from drawing power.

"Because of the way the weather conditions are affecting the road network also, we are unable to run replacement buses."

Up-to-date information about services can be found on National Rail Enquiries nationalrail.co.uk, or the ‘On Track’ app, and Southeastern's Twitter account @Se_Railway.