Chilternrailways Arvostelua 

I’ve got a season ticket and I’m genuinely considering giving it up. The amount of money you pay, you’d expect at least a reasonably pleasant journey.
Instead, it’s overcrowded, often smells absolutely lovely, delays and cancellations are practically part of the service, and you never quite know when you’ll actually get where you’re going.
But hey, at least the ticket price keeps going up. Wouldn’t want us getting too much value for our money, would we?

Absolutely ridiculous you can only get a refund on a ticket the day before you travel!

It's an e-ticket, they will know if anyone has used it so why can't I cancel it on the day of travel if they know it hasn't been used?

I am not allowed a refund for last minute issues that arise that stop me from travelling?

I should schedule all my emergencies to happen before 23:59 on the day prior to travel?

Awful policies.
They somehow manage to be overprice whilst also given the impression of being underfunded.

I have never been on a train that had a working power socket or wifi and yet those are two selling points for the service!

Reserve seat option for longer journeys but they don't enforce it, so what's the point?

Shocking! 1st train I got on, sat in Rickmansworth for 20 & then we were told ot had broken down. 2nd finally arrived late & was already crowded. They never put enough carriages on. Are they tryong to copy India? If so doing a poor job
Trains in India aren't this unreliable

Hello, I was just wondering: what is the point of having quiet coaches if nobody respect the rules?
Every time I get on a train and I seat in a quiet coach, there will be noise people, talking loud, talking on their phones or listening videos without using headphones.
That is very very annoying.
It would be great if you could say anything on the microphone, remembering rules to people.
Thank you.

Carriage crowded and unbearably hot. No windows to open and no Aircon. Train crawled from Marylebone to Oxford with frequent stops. The driver did apologise so at least we had updates.

Trying to get home. First train to Oxford was stopped a few hundred metres from the station and due to a faulty emergency system the train reversed back into Marylebone. The next train now with double the people and only the usual 4 carriages is completely full. An announcement has been made to say we're being held up by a red signal but the driver doesn't know the reason why? Is this a prelude to another change of trains and the beginning of a journey to hell? Who knows... Now we've stopped at West Ruislip and on the WRONG platform and the driver announced she's unable to speak to the signal box to understand what is going on. Just when we are thought it couldn't get any worse. Is it actually safe to be stopped at the WRONG platform and not being able to speak to anyone at the signal box??

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.