by political editor Paul Francis

A minister has said train operators must do more to keep passengers informed in bad weather - but claims disruption during the recent Big Freeze wasn't as bad as depicted.

Philip Hammond was quizzed by MPs on the transport select committee over the response of the authorities and others during the winter’s prolonged spell of bad weather.

The transport minister accepted the lack of communication by train companies had been a key complaint and improvements were needed.

He also conceded the network’s third rail remained "unacceptably vulnerable to disruption".

On the lack of information for passengers, he told MPs a key problem was that emergency timetables were uploaded to operators’ websites the evening before they were implemented.

During the bad weather, many Kent rail commuters voiced their frustration that services Southeastern had claimed on its website would run were subsequently cancelled without notice.

Mr Hammond blamed a system too dependent on computers.

"The lack of information was a key complaint," he said.

"The problem is the system has become highly dependent on computer data where [emergency] timetables have to be uploaded between 3pm and 5pm the previous afternoon.

"A large number of operators’ systems were driven by that."

"When the weather changes or further timetable changes have to be made, or practical difficulties mean timetables that have been uploaded have to be changed, there is a disjunction between what computers are shoving out and what is happening in the real world."

But he insisted the disruption was not been as bad as depicted by the media.

"Across the rest of the network, operating levels were reasonably good. Performance and punctuality levels over the period for many operators were around the 80 per cent mark," Mr Hammond added.

"While they were nowhere near what they should have been, they were not as catastrophic as some of the news media reported."

In a statement, Southeastern said: "While many of the improvements we had made to improve communication, such as our website, worked well, there were still issues, especially with industry systems, which meant the information we were able to provide was not satisfactory.

"Improving our communication during times of disruption, alongside improving punctuality, is our main focus for the future."