Guess what? Google doesn’t know why British trains can’t run in the snow.
Nor, it would seem, do the UK train operators. If they do, they’re not telling us.
WikiAnswers.com takes a feeble stab at it: “No, they can’t run in the snow – but special trains can..” Mmm. Thanks.
The nearest we get to a real answer comes from a pdf from a Canadian train operator, Go Trains. Thanks to them we learn the problem might be to do with frozen switches:
Track switches
A switch is a section of railway track that allows a train to move
from one track to another. When snow and ice build up between
the moving rails, the switch can get blocked.
Aha! Thank you Go Trains. NOW we’re getting somewhere.
This strikes me as a missed opportunity, UK TOCs (that’s ‘train operating companies’).
Why? Because you’re going to have tens of thousands of angry customers screaming down your phone lines today about their lost tickets, missed meetings and ruined lives – and a bit of knowledge and understanding might have taken the heat out of their calls a bit.
And because it could have been YOUR company that explained to me why a train can’t run in the snow.
Not only would you have educated the great British public about the real issues involved in running a railway, you could also have been the company to answer that question and get all that lovely Google juice – and boosted your online reputation at the same time.
And you could even have gone one a step further and informed the snowed-in customer whether your cancellation means they’ve lost their money or not. 
most switches (turnouts) in most lines are warmed, so they dont freeze. they are necessary in proper work of the railroad.
and havent you heard about snow plows and snow blowers? yes, they are used in railroad too. and dont forget that train is really heavy and running on thin wheels, so he doesnt have problems running through snow, that is not thicker than lets say 30 cm… it depends (on gauge, weights of the train, track speed, track characteristics and many other factors)
so trains have less problems running through snow than any other mean of transport except lets say planes (which also need clean runway and need to de-ice before the flight)
Thanks Jerremy! You’re the first person to give us useful information about trains and snow! I wonder if the UK has warmed switches? Sounds to me like you’re not from the UK… over here trains don’t have snowploughs or blowers. We get so little snow it wouldn’t be worth the investment.
most switches (turnouts) in most lines are warmed, so they dont freeze. they are necessary in proper work of the railroad.
and havent you heard about snow plows and snow blowers? yes, they are used in railroad too. and dont forget that train is really heavy and running on thin wheels, so he doesnt have problems running through snow, that is not thicker than lets say 30 cm… it depends (on gauge, weights of the train, track speed, track characteristics and many other factors)
so trains have less problems running through snow than any other mean of transport except lets say planes (which also need clean runway and need to de-ice before the flight)
ive seen ploughs in the uk, but ive never saw them used.
Just sat in a depot.
why dont they get used?
It’s a mystery….
But I don’t think the UK train / snow problem is about volumes of snow anyway. It’s about things freezing up and not working properly. There’s rarely enough snow to warrant a plough.
Anyone remember “the wrong type of snow”? a few years ago it was about powdery snow that blew into the motors and switchgear under the power cars and melted, shorting things out.
Whilst it’s true that the high contact pressure of a train as opposed to a car should in theory break though any ice build up, the problems experienced in the UK are not always about gripping the track.
In the UK not all points are heated, most of the year it’s just not necessary (BTW, here we call them points, not switches)but they do freeze up, as does power supply equipment (breakers etc.) and a whole host of other small scale stuff can contribute to bringing the trains to a grinding halt. Not least of which is the large number of railway staff who can’t get into work.
Railway companies did use to have snow ploughs too, I’ve seen them on preserved railways. Many were converted from old brake vans or locomotive tenders. As railways have become less important we seem as a nation to have become less prepared to keep them running at any cost, but I have to ask, given that I know people who won’t be paid at all because they couldn’t get to work and that your rail journey is subsidised from my taxs, just how much more do you think I should pay for my fuel to guarantee you can still get to work when I can’t?
Thankfully I’m not a train user butI can’t work out why European rails carry on working in winter conditions.First of all why don’t engines carry a spinning brush like on airport runways. I’m told that points are heated if not why not……..is it down to cost?. If this weather is the shape of things to come shouldn’t the rail operaters start gearing up to keep the lines running