National Rail Reviews 

Awful clunky new app - slow and dysfunctional- why break something that used to work perfectly well? Changing to Trainline

The new update on the app/website is terrible

The previous version was much better

People want the previous version back

I now use Railboard works just like the previous version of the national rail app did before they chose to ruin it. I recommend to download Railboard

The new update on the app and website has made it terrible national rail need to listen to the public and bring back the previous version

National rails app/website is a national JOKE! They update their app and absolutely bundle it, missing trains from the timetable, that people think their trains are no longer running. People refunding their tickets only to find out the train actually turned up. People thought their trains were no longer running due to a new timetable, even rail staff were reporting a timetable change.. Their website isn't even working anymore, says site can't be reached, when it should display a message like under construction or carrying out repairs. Other apps like Trainline work just fine. Time to uninstall National Rail and download Trainline.

The new app is an absolute shocker. It's so difficult to use, requires too much information to get to a simple answer. Has missing functionality that users have come to rely on. It feels like they haven't put themselves in the shoes of a user in order to revamp the app. For regular commuters who are delayed, you need to be able to pull up information on what trains are running to time va delayed in as fewer inputs of info as possible. The new version wants more info to get to the same answer: Commuters using this on the fly will miss trains trying to get real time information quickly as that doesn't seem possible. Another example of teckies assuming they know what users need.

The new app is a disaster. As a severely sight impaired person it's now unusable for me, time for a new app, I'll be deleting this one!

Improve!!? Try going faster than 30mph and the cost is ridiculous

Booking was difficult and extremely time consuming. I was (on 23rd September) booking three journeys constituting one period away from home in November (Lancaster to London, London to Westbury, Westbury to Lancaster). I wanted to pick up card tickets for all three from my home station This option wasn't given to me. The website just said 'The station". At another point, where I was being asked for the day of travel (for the second time) The calender wouldn't move on to November. I have previously used The Train Line where booking has been entirely straightforward and well worth the Booking fee to avoid National Rail Booking website.

The National Rail app is poor. The lines are thin and hard to see. It is not user-friendly. It is not intuitive. I will not consent to any requests it makes. People with any type of vision problems or time constraints will find the app useless.

They don't even deserve more of my time to explain why it's a really bad service. Incredibly expensive, delays, cancellations, unprofessional policies... they don't let you get on the train when you arrive just on time on the platform acting like if you could easily get another train soon after...i think it's a real embarrassment for UK having such a poor service,and not to mention the total absence of fast trains...

Useless! The old version was so much better, the new one is useless to me. No functionality at all to pin relevant journeys for ease of use. Who ever designed and rolled out this version needs to find another career :-)

Expensive and useless.

Cheaper to drive, insure and pay for parking.

0 out of 10. Thanks

Bought a ticket via their app from Preston to Manchester Piccaddilly. When I return to Preston, their staff at the entrance in Picacadilly not allowed me to go inside to wait and they said too early to go inside and there is no notice in anywhere.
Very bad service.

Bought a family and friends rail card a day before travel for £30, got a email instantly so I could add it to the app and use straight away. Tickets were £42.45 with Railcard from Harrogate to Scarborough (1 adult and 2 children)
Tickets without the Railcard would have cost £80 so I already saved around £10 and I can use it for a whole year! Looking forward to travelling around with my kids :)
Also would like to mention the staff in Harrogate were brilliant and very helpful.

Only problem I had was I didn't check the times for trains beforehand (my fault), I came up to the station in Scarborough around 5.30/6pm hoping to jump on next train back to York but I must have just missed the train and then the next one was heading to Leeds and my ticket said I couldn't use Leeds train to get to York, I wasn't a 100% sure if this was right so I wanted to ask someone at the information desk but unfortunately it was closed. So I had to wait 2 hours for the next one which was a bit of a inconvenience with the kids, we got home very late and the station in York was a bit rowdy on Saturday night with people smashing bottles at the entrance. The train ride home was peaceful though we bought snacks from the Sainsbury's in the station and the young lad that served us was great 👍😃 Also staff on trains were great.
We met some lovely people who were travelling on the way there on the train and the way back but I was too tired to socialise on the way back.

(I had a ticket to return within a month)
If you have read this far remember to check your times before you travel so this doesn't happen to you lol x

Coming back from Leeds were a nightmare! I were trapped on a train with no toilet, I couldn't even get off because the doors were locked, how dare you do this to me and the rest of the passengers. The organisation is a disgrace. I felt like a prisoner and my bladder nearly burst. Other passengers urinated themselves because the pain was unbearable, it were a very uncomfortable situation which I don't want to experience again. I think a refund for me and the group of 20 I were with and a £1000 voucher for food and drinks would be a reasonable compensation package, do the right thing please don't disappoint me!

I had a great experience today 24th August. I needed assistance from Peterborough to London St Pancras and the young lady at Peterborough called Bethany couldn’t be more helpful. Big thank you 😊

Took my 9 year old son out for the day On a fun boat trip.
The train journey involved one change … the 2nd leg being a 4 minute single stop.Staines to Egham.
EVERY single train on the Staines platform was showing 30, 40 minute delays, but a train suddenly appeared that should have got us home… platform staff didn’t know anything about it at all but boards briefly showed promise. So we got on, as did others, but it charged through Egham station and a few after. No obvious staff on board bar the charging driver. Took us from 4 minutes from home to 27 minutes from home before stopping in Weybridge to come back. Finally returned from whence it came including a 10 minute stop… just a bonus bit of fun.
In summary, our 4 minute journey leg became a 75 minute mystery tour… with my poor little boy on a fun day out. And they want more money!!

The national rail service as a whole is designed to make people as miserable as possible with the amount of minor and major problems that occur on a regular basis. Well done. Keep it up and keep us miserable.

What went wrong this time you ask? What goes right? Nothing. These absolute scumbag criminals charge ludicrous prices for probably the worst train service in Europe. Asking nearly 200 pounds for a journey when you can fly to Spain for a fraction of that is insane. There is no reason for it to cost so much other than greedy people lining their pockets. Nationalise the railways. End private ownership.