National Rail Reviews 

Had to put 1 star or no review !!!!!! Euston to chester 6 1/2 hrs 4 trains later no appollogy just cancelled cancelled ,early morning awful soso ashamed of our private trains em heavy subsidised no one cares .going home after 2 days got to chester train station guess what cancelled.3 more changes before Euston 5hrs nightmare.

And again wrong information given. I ask The employee at the ticket office when is the next train to Belvedere-: he tells me 11.32. I ask 'are you sure?' and there's no response. No info either on the train when it comes or platform (train stops). I get to Blackheath and have to get off as he's directed me to an Eltham! Dont have time for this merry go round with NR - Do better!

I buy ticket 40 minutes before departure and 10 minutes before departure trip was delayed for 4 hours and I try to refund and in app they saying I'm not qualified for refund 🤔Newer again national rail!!!

I am writing to raise a serious complaint regarding the racist and discriminatory treatment I received from a staff member named Rose who is a customer service member at Gatwick on Tuesday 14 October at 8.15am.

When I approached Rose to purchase a ticket, she made a deeply offensive and racist remark, telling me that I “don’t belong in this country.” Such words are hateful, humiliating, and completely unacceptable from anyone — let alone a representative of National Rail. To make matters worse, she then issued me the wrong ticket, causing further distress and inconvenience.

I felt targeted, disrespected, and unsafe as a result of her behaviour. No customer should ever experience this kind of discrimination, especially in a public service environment. I expect this incident to be taken seriously, fully investigated, and that appropriate disciplinary action be taken against the staff member involved.

They tell lies about journey times on their website! Journeys always take 10 to 15 minutes longer than they advertise

I have had many good experiences using passenger assistance with my wheelchair. When caught up in major delays the other day everyone was so helpful in getting me home Thankyou for all your help

The National Rail app isn't fit for purpose. When planning a journey, I expect a summary of the outward and return journey times. Instead it just directs you to a an external ticket seller. At which point you hqve to resubmit the times. Rubbish.

I use this northern rails a lot and I’ve noticed especially when asking to see tickets
They pick and choose who they say thank you too, which I think is rude
Treat people how you want to be treated
And remember you know nothing about the person or people that your trying to look down your nose at them

Very good service ticket was easy to get on my phone for the week and juat scan the ticket the trains were clean and tidy and on time great service fro what I have experien ed well done Northern rail going from doncaster to Thorne and return in evening

Trains cancelled and late. Had to get taxi that cost £65. Delay scheme too onerous and couldn’t progress claim. Complaints process also asking for information and then crashes out. Links on emails fail to work. What a mess! This is not the first time.

Specifically bought our train tickets the day before . We were planning to leave before peak time . The man behind the counter told us it’s totally possible to travel into London in the morning and we could save £35 each he even said we could enjoy a lunch with money we saved . Get to barriers . Not allowed access went to ticket office by this time 8.33 train had departed we could go on 9.am train at a £50 per person extra charge . We were not the only ones who had foolishly believed and bought these tickets . Eastbourne person why did you lie to us !! It shouldn’t be allowed . This is when a machine is better than a human . What a horrible spiteful man . Absolutely fuming !!

Had hired a car London Heathrow. Waited 3 hours to get car which was booked mths before from Australia.
Couldn't get it as wouldn't take travel card as no name on it. Had debit credit card wouldn't take that as it only said debit card.
Got to Hounslow West station to get train to Maidstone Kent, manager Indi was so helpful went above and beyond. Was going to take over 3 hrs, checked price and price of Uber. Same price.
Tried to help us get an Uber but wouldn't work on our phones. He used his phone to do it especially as it was getting late. So there sre kind people in the world!

Brand new train waiting on the platform to whisk me off directly to my house in Goodwick. Ticket checked by a good looking smiley young man All for about £15 (with senior railcard) instead of £50 in petrol to drive myself down a wet motorway. What's not to like! 😃

My experience with the service has been extremely stressful and deeply disappointing. Despite allowing myself plenty of time to collect my children from school, the trains are consistently unreliable. To make matters worse, the national apps are not updated effectively, leaving passengers without accurate information and causing unnecessary anxiety and disruption. This ongoing issue has made what should be a straightforward journey unreasonably difficult and stressful.

An absolutely awful company. My home neighbours their land. There are sections of up to 10 meters with no suitable boundary along the boundary line, a boundary which has a purpose to protect from the live trainline and passing trains!!

1 is beyond generous. And the words I want to use would get this review censored. So just give in to the oil barons, get a car and forget about the environment. Public transport in this country needs to be put to death

We are two pensioners living in a city. We have family in another city and after a horrendous motor trip there recently decided to buy Railcards and switch to the train. The Railcards are a big investment, the cost would pay for the petrol for three car journeys between our houses, and that's senior Railcards and without counting the actual tickets. But my beef is the website - "upload a photo" "download to the app". Ok we do have WiFi and we do have mobiles and tablets but where are we meant to have learnt these skills? It's stressful enough laying out all this money without these extra worries. I quite see that it's a lot cheaper than using people, pen and paper but please consider the practicalities for the customer.

The worst transport
Always expensive, late and never on time
You miss the connections as well and spend ages in train stations

I left my mobile in the carriage just coming back fom Oxford and realised just leaving the train in Beaconsfield. I asked for help to Peter, the station officer, who quickly took action on that and he made the necessary calls to the Marylebone station so they could check the train on arriving. They found it and Peter made the necessary arrangements to recover it. I am so grateful to Peter. He tried to help immediately with urgency and kindness. What a great customer service. Thanks also to the staff in Marylebone, Orient and Ro.

⸻

⭐️ If I could give minus 5 stars, I would.

The UK train system is without doubt the most unreliable I’ve ever experienced. They take your money well in advance, sell you so-called “cheap” tickets, and then cancel trains on the day of travel. My recent journey from Leeds to Leicester was completely ruined because one connection (Leeds to Sheffield) was cancelled, which voided the whole ticket.

Yes, they offered a refund — but that’s not the point. By the time I scrambled to book a coach at the last minute, I had to pay much more than the original fare. On top of that, staff even suggested I “stay an extra day or two” for free travel later — completely ignoring the fact that I had work commitments, and extra hotel costs would be on me.

This is not a one-off. Over the last few years I’ve had multiple journeys ruined like this. Meanwhile, trains across Europe (Belgium, France, Germany) run on time, are cleaner, cheaper, and far better managed.

The system here is broken. Train companies should be penalised for selling tickets they cannot honour, and forced to pay at least double compensation for cancellations. Until then, they’ll keep taking passengers’ money and delivering nothing.

And yet the government expects the public to “ditch cars” and rely on this shambles? Totally unrealistic.

Avoid the UK train network if you can. Unreliable, overpriced, and worst of all — no accountability.