Chilternrailways Avis 

Would give zero if I could. Just waited 30 mins outside Stourbridge junction station travelling on the 18.40 from snow hill , with NO ANNOUNCEMENTS to let us know what’s going on. I get that things happen but just communicate with your customers!!! Ridiculous

No acceptable Wi‑Fi connection, despite stickers all over the carriage, and no power available to charge laptops due to non‑functional sockets. I genuinely wonder when British railways will reach the standards already achieved by many European and Asian countries

There’s lots of good things about Chiltern, who whilst not perfect - and less reliable than they were - are better than a number of other operators. They could be better however. Irritatingly if you get one of their shiny new trains you will have to listen to loud banging from the cupboards on board, an unsecured metal hook or similar which no one will sort out, driving you slightly mad, quite unnecessarily. A shame given the scale of the outlay on the trains themselves.

Insane prices, never enough carriages, often standing room only. Worst of all why don’t they warn you before locking the doors? Is it too much to ask for a whistle to be blown or something while you’re going up and down the train looking for space and then you miss the train entirely even though they clearly see you half way down the platform trying to get on?

Incredibly rude staff at Marylebone. Zero customer service for people paying high prices for terrible service.

How Chiltern railways think it is acceptable to charge approximately a pound per minute for a journey yet regularly have late, delayed or cancelled trains with no air-conditioning in the summer is appalling.

Really poor experience booking on their website, beware. Booked a return, selected an outward journey time, moved the return time to a later set of times, and unbeknown to me that changes the already selected time to a different one. Ended up booking the wrong ticket, and lost £10 even when phoning up immediately to try to rectify. Wouldn’t advise anyone to use them to book tickets. Shocking customer server.

Last minute cancellations and poorly maintained trains. That's the everyday story for this company.

Oh my goodness I have epilepsy my brain doesn't work so well. Lost phone at Maylebone. Someone kindly handed it in, Jack looked after it. So so so grateful. Beyond the call. Thank you!!!

If you find yourself needing to travel by Chiltern then youre better off staying at home. On peak return ticket a 30 mile journey? Enjoy paying £50 to stand on a dirty overcrowded train from the 70s with no air conditioning or capacity. Delays are a certainty and half the time you wont even make it to your destination because the line will fail. Honestly the worst excuse for a service ive ever had the displeasure of using.

Absolutely brilliant!Ill start with the customer service,I needed to change the day of a non refundable ticket but when I called and explained the reason the were happy to oblige!The train journey was exemplary with the trains punctual and the service fast!Will 200% use again.

Cancelled train to Marylebone on 17th July with a really feeble excuse from Chiltern. Follow up train was also late. Total lack of customer updates. In fairness Chiltern will pay me £15 compensation but this just about covers the cab I had to take to make my London appointment on time. I would rather have had a punctual train service.

After more than a year of commuting with Chiltern Railways, I finally felt compelled to write a review.

I travel from Solihull to London Marylebone and back almost every working day, so this isn't based on one bad experience. It's a pattern that's repeated time and time again. Against the backdrop of trains that are routinely overcrowded with only four carriages on many services, the overall experience is genuinely poor.

1. The air conditioning rarely works.

The journey is almost two hours long, yet the air conditioning either doesn't work or is nowhere near adequate. The trains are so packed that once you're on, you're effectively stuck in your seat. If you board at Solihull like I do, you're one of the lucky ones. Anyone joining further down the line has a very good chance of standing for the entire journey.

2. It's unbearably hot.

The trains regularly feel like a furnace. I'm genuinely sweating while sitting still. During a heatwave, it's frankly unpleasant and uncomfortable for nearly two hours.

3. The fares are eye-watering.

Around £100 for a return trip to London, yet the service rarely feels like it's delivering value for money. For the prices being charged, passengers should expect far better.

4. Marylebone station is chaotic.

The ticket barriers are almost always backed up, with no meaningful queue management. The only thing preventing complete chaos is basic British queue etiquette. When the barriers fail, staff are often nowhere to be seen, meaning you have to leave the queue to find someone, then join the back of another queue just to get out of the station.

5. Stop playing platform bingo.

Can we please have some consistency with departure platforms at Marylebone? Constant last-minute platform changes make an already stressful commute even more frustrating.

This isn't the occasional off day. It's what many regular commuters experience week after week. For the prices being charged, the service falls well below what passengers should reasonably expect.

This company rip you off at every opportunity, fail to handle complaints effectively, understaff trains and stations, communicate atrociously and make no effort to provide any semblance of customer service.

They're a great advert for nationalising the railways and replacing staff with robots.

I came here after my journey yesterday. Thank goodness I’m fortunate enough not to rely on trains, because after that experience I won’t be using your services again, and I’d genuinely warn others to think twice—especially elderly people travelling during this heatwave.

We had to travel to Oxford yesterday with Chiltern. For an hour and 20 minutes there was no air conditioning. I watched elderly passengers struggling to breathe in the heat. Not once did a member of staff come through the train to check whether people were okay.

We paid just under £200 for a journey that was completely unacceptable. I also find it unbelievable that UK regulations don’t require trains to have air conditioning running during extreme heat. That makes no sense at all.

To make matters worse, there was no air conditioning and no windows open to let any fresh air in.

Please stop presenting this page as though everything is wonderful when passengers are being left to suffer. Do better.

Please avoid if you can!
This company is the bottom of the barrel and much much worse than operators like Southeastern. I know as a regular commuter.
Needs to be closed down and start again including rehiring.
No air conditioning even on new trains in middle of heatwave. Trains constantly running late. No seats. Clowns that have no business running a rail line anywhere.

I want to give the score minus 1.
Such a unreliable service.
Why is this service still continuing?
Stuck at London Marylebone with no information. Station Manager Darren is so poor.....no updates.....sack him

If it's Summer time, don't get on these trains unless you want to be drenched in sweat at the end of your journey, or half-dead from heat exhaustion.
08/07/26: In the middle of the third heatwave of the year at 30C+, with reduced service across the board (as usual) and they still refuse to turn the AC on. Unbelievable.

How can a service this poor still be running in 2026?

Trains are often overcrowded with only standing room, And most often the air conditioning isn't working even when it's in the mid-30s outside. These are basically greenhouses on tracks.

This company is a disgrace and they shouldn't be allowed to run their service if they go to do it so poorly.

Train was alright but had the genuine worst customer service. Incredibly rude, condescending, and assuming without probable reason at the station. Felt very offended and made me quite uncomfortable/a little scared, especially this being my first time ever in the continent. Please - if the hiring team is reading this, hire people who will be nice to customers as this will make or break the experience. Not coming back on this service again.