Virgin Trains has demanded more snowploughs to keep railways clear, after revealing it cancelled more than 600 services on the West Coast Main Line because of bad weather over the Christmas season.

It also warned that a new computerised timetable system had failed to cope with cancellations and other sudden changes - so that customers received the wrong information.

The rail operator made the comments in evidence to the Commons Transport Committee, which is investigating the chaos which gripped Britain’s transport network in November and December.

MPs also heard warnings that councils faced a salt shortage making it difficult to grit the streets, which could be even worse if bad weather returned this year.

Virgin told MPs that 623 trains were outright and 257 were “part cancelled”, which means they ran for less than their full scheduled route.

Most of the cancellations were on the London to Birmingham to Manchester route, and from December 20 to 22 the number of services was cut from three per hour to two per hour.

But the rail operator admitted that some customers had been given the wrong information as they tried to plan their journeys.