"The whole line was affected and it is incredibly busy in terms of freight."
Last night trains were running again between Manchester and Stockport.
Macrae continued: "The Hastings line was severed in parts too, which had a wearing affect on freight."
The severe weather caused several landslips meaning the line between Battle and Robertsbridge was closed for a couple of weeks, affecting freight to London.
Network Rail stated safety is their biggest priority and said they would have to wait for the bad weather to pass before safely carrying out extensive repair work.
After the devastation to the rail lines in the south west UK, David Cameron announced a £31 million scheme to deliver 10 rail resilience projects, including work at Cowley Bridge in Exeter, to improve resilience to flooding, at Prime Minister’s Questions on 12 February.
Network Rail will also install rainfall, river flow and groundwater monitoring around Cowley Bridge Junction and Chipping Sodbury.
He also declared £30 million for local authorities in England affected by the harsh weather for road repairs.
Secretary of state for transport Patrick McLoughlin said: "We’re working with transport operators to make sure everything that can be done to reduce the impact of the storms and floods on our transport system and speed up recovery is being done.
We're also determined to boost the resilience of the transport network against future severe weather."