Chilternrailways Avis 

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.

If I could give less than one star I would. I commute via Chiltern railways and they have the worst service, the only positive reviews here are from people who have done a one off journey and isn’t reflective of how poorly they actually operate. Trains are regularly cancelled and delayed, with overcrowded carriages and an abysmal refund policy. There are also regularly signal failures or issues with the line which makes me think they are poorly maintained and a potential safety issue. Unfortunately they are the only company who operates where I live and if I could have switched to a different company I would have done so a long time ago.

The disruption to my journey on 22 June caused significant stress and financial loss. When I sought reimbursement for a £95 taxi fare — incurred solely because your train was stopped and passengers were told to expect a 90-minute delay — I was refused on the basis of what actually happened, not on the information your service provided to me at the time. That is an unreasonable standard to apply to a passenger who acted in good faith on announcements made by your own staff. To compound this, staff at Gerrards Cross actively assisted passengers in taking taxis and indicated costs would be reimbursed, which they were not. The final response from Chiltern (refusal) failed to engage with the core point I raised. I have now referred this matter to the Rail Ombudsman.

Travelling today from Warwick Parkway t Marylebone station. It’s 30 degrees outside and there is no air conditioning on - it’s the most uncomfortable train journey I have experienced. Absolutely ridiculous heat on the train. Never again

I recently made the mistake of using chiltern railways to make a return trip from Saunderton to Marylebone as I had to have some medical tests done at a private hospital in London. Because the forecast was heavy rain I decided not to do the journey on my motor bike - however, I wish I had despite the rain. On my return journey I was waiting to catch the 12:06 to Oxford (that stopped at Saunderton) when they announced around 12:00pm - that all trains about to depart were cancelled because of a track issue. They recommended that we go to Paddington and catch a train to Oxford and our tickets would be honoured. Bear in mind that it is 25miles from Oxford to Saunderton where I had left my car. So I jumped on the tube to Paddington and caught the elizabeth line to Burnham, bucks and walked to my Sisters who fortunately lived about half a mile away. She then drove me the 22 miles to Saunderton to pick up my car. I eventually arrived at Saunderton about 2 hours after my train should have arrived at 14:46 (12:46). So I put in a claim for a delay which they immediately rejected because my train wasn't more than 15 minutes late!!!! Never mind the cost of fuel from Burnham to Saunderton and back - all I claimed was the £3 fare to Paddington. It just makes you wonder how they run a train company in such a dysfunctional unfair manner where customers who pay their wages are treated so badly and left stranded to fend for themselves.

I was travelling alone from Sudbury hills to Gerrards cross, I had bought my ticket online through the guest way, I received no email confirmation despite putting my email in and got no notification until a few hours after of paying. I arrived at my station and I wasn’t able to go through, confused I went to the desk where 3 guys surrounded me and didn’t believe I payed, it was extremely intimidating and scary for me as I am only just 16, they didn’t believe me and made me buy another ticket despite having already bought the other one, then they watched me buy and still didn’t completely believe me and shrugged and let me through still clearly not believing me after I had just bought it infront of their own eyes. Both the staff and booking process was horrible.not only that but I I’ve bought 2 tickets now and still haven’t received any confirmation.

Constantly encountering rude Chiltern staff at both Banbury & London Marylebone. I'm not sure why they feel the need to openly show their contempt to legitimate passengers who aren't fare dodging, and are polite to them.

I recently bought a ticket for a future rail trip from Dorridge Station and inadvertently left my debit card in the machine. After leaving, Jay the counter service employee, saw the card and kept it safe until my highly panicked return. He thought nothing of his honesty but I was very relieved and incredibly thankful for his alertness snd kindness. Thank you again Jay, in helping to avoid a lot of extra worry and having to change many direct debit details.

I have only praise for Chiltern Railways staff. Recovering from a serious ankle injury, I initially contacted Camilla at Assistance, and she calmly and quickly booked the help I needed. At Marylebone, everyone was so helpful and kind. Thank you to all concerned, and well done!

On the 604 from London Marylebone this morning and have lots of work to do. Plug sockets not working and WiFi non existent. Terrible service as always!) from Chiltern Railways.

A piss poor service often with daily signalling failures, cancelllations or delapidated short formed trains struggling I'm the heat. With overzealous staff watching your every move on the station, it's a wonder none of them have been reported to the Police for harrassimg and discrimination against those passengers just pursuing a hobby. Avoid these chiltern staff on their stations like the plague.

Most of the time train delayed I missed my exam because of the train cancellation this not the first time happening honestly shame on this train company they got do something with it

Prices are an extortion and on the top of that you pay a booking fee! Carriages are very smelly and dirty.