Great Western Railway Reviews 

I travel on GWR long distance trains 8 or 9 times a year.
The announcements drive me crazy.
What is needed is someone relaying information in a flat, neutral tone - not behaving like an over-excited presenter in an immersive podcast or sounding as if in the 'When Harry met Sally' restaurant scene, just because we are arriving at Swindon.

The train is cancelled by GWR so I request a refund, they take £5 admin fee. No, it’s you that cancelled the train so you cover any admin fees associated with your issue not the customer

Scum. Scam company. £15 for a short hop between bath and frome. £15???? And they still manage to mess it up by stranding me in Westbury. A great advertisement for nationalisation asap!!!

The trains smell as the toilets are badly designed. They trains are usually late. The seats are very uncomfortable. Sometimes you stand due to over crowding. I hate having to use this awful train 'service'

I had a train cancelled for the afternoon/evening on the line for Gatwick airport. I was with a three year old + luggage. It was highly stressful for my doughter and me. It was really hard for me to get to the airport in time. I ve asked for a money compensation for fuel and parking expanses.
They answered that l would have a compensation only if my train and journey was planned to arrive at the airport 3 hours before the flight depart but my train suppose to arrive 2:15 in advance.
The airport and flight ticket advice to arrive 2 hours early for non international fligh to avoid traffic and airport chaos.
I ve also asked a ticket refund but they probably only refund me the 80%.
I found this really unfair . The Gwr seems to be unreliable and expensive considering the reliability of the service.
They robber money from clients.

Eye watering prices and terrible service

First train cancelled with less than 10 minutes notice. We were forced to take a taxi.

Second train, packed to the rafters with unhappy passengers, no seats available. Train dirty and unpleasant.

Where is the money going?! The prices are astronomical. You could almost buy a car for the cost of a ticket. The money certainly isn’t going into running clean, frequent, dependable train services.

The parent company of GWR is certainly making enough money to expand. There is enough money to pay out shareholder dividends.

Why is there not enough money to run trains?!

For a few months the service just got super expensive and quality has gotten the opposite way. Loads of cancellations and delays too often

First Great Western cancelled my train (due to lack of train crew) waited an hour for the next train, then stuck outside station due to a points failure - a poorly managed train service :(

Due to travel from London Paddington to Penzance. No trains leaving before 11:15 due to track repairs and lack of staff. Our train was due to depart from Reading instead. No great issue other than 3 out of 4 trains to Reading then being cancelled, leaving 4 train loads of people trying to be herded like cattle onto one train.
Once at Reading, where our train was due to start/depart at 12:30 to Penzance,no further information displayed other than delayed. Half an hour later, finally told which platform the train would be departing from.
Once on the train, we’re then informed that due to the bad weather and flooding, the train would terminate at Exeter and they were trying to sort out alternative travel-emphasis on the ‘trying’.On reaching Exeter everyone was advised there was no alternative transport available due to the weather and basically everyone had to make their own arrangements as they couldn’t authorise anything.
How can such a large transport provider have no contingencies in place,and not be prepared to help their passengers get to their destinations and just leave them stranded.
Surely by now, theyshould be prepared for the British weather and have something in place to help their customers?

Booked an exciting trip to Newquay from London. Arrived at Paddington to find out the train has been completely cancelled, and instead a service is running from Reading (ie not Paddington, not even London). They (very kindly assisted and) advised me to hop on the train on platform 8 to reading and catch it from there. Sure, fine by me.

I arrive at the platform. The visibly stressed and clearly unsupported train manager, who as a result is incredibly kurt and borderline aggressive, doesn't let me board because i require a bike space reservation, which of course i dont have for this random train to Reading. So he refuses to let me board the train despite the fact the bike spaces were empty two minutes before departure and I was only going a one stop. Ended up getting a coach from National Express instead who were incredibly friendly and helpful.

Its obviously not the train managers fault, but the lack of staff and support deployed by GWR amid cancellations. GWR's reckless operation of the railway continues to prioritising profits and shareholders and greed, over offering an effective or safe service to the public or even a reasonable place to work.

Like the dim-witted half wit I often am, I left my jacket on the train when making a connection. On realising this, I told the train manager of my second train, Jamie, on the 26 Sep 2024 11:25 Exeter to Waterloo train.
Rather than fobbing me off to report the loss on line, he managed to contact the other train, resulting in a station staff search being conducted in Bristol - by Jove, they only went and found it and retrieved to their Lost Property,
Later that afternoon, I received a call from Bristol, confirming they had the jacket and full intact contents (including cards and the full amount of cash), ready for collection at my convenience.
Bally marvellous I say, hoozah for the great people at GWR!
#PeopleAintSoBad

I've been using GWR to get from home in Wiltshire to work in London 2 or 3 times a month for the last 9 months. I have one short 25 min journey and then a comnection Swindon -London. Once, just once in nine months have I had a day with no delays or cancellations. My boss is the best and today sent me home just after 12. I'm writing this review in Swindon , over six hours later, on a train that should have left Swindon for my home town over 45 minutes ago, but it didn't. Today's exceptionally bad, but GWR seem to have no capacity or contingency to cope with disruption of any kind. Nationalise, invest, and get our money back from the shareholders who have been robbing us blind for decades.

My problems started when trying to navigate the website simply to buy a return ticket from Salisbury to Bristol. The first phone call to GWR didn't help; I phoned again, a customer service staff member was as baffled as I and we went through the booking process together, she keeping a step ahead and giving instructions.
Outward - three busy coaches, thankfully I just managed to get a seat, other passengers were standing for the entire journey. (On the way, instructions for a request stop were given and withdrawn with further instructions to seek a member of staff - no chance to find one on such a packed carriage. Also an announcement about some toilets not working.)

Return - online information did not mention a change at Westbury, with the given journey time indicating a direct route. I chose to wait for the next direct train. Just before boarding there was a faint announcement that the service would be terminating at Warminster. Other passengers hadn't heard that and knew nothing until we all had to get off. There was no announcement on the train. No further information was given for onward travel.

Usually when I visit Bristol I drive but I decided to start using the train. First and last time until the service improves.

I unfortunately rely on this absolutely shambolic disgrace of a company to get to work two days per week. Almost every single week there is a cancellation or significant delay. It's a 15 minute journey and they still can't even manage to run it properly. Last week their excuse was that "a cow was hit by a train somewhere on the line", which they only informed us about 20 minutes after the train was due to depart, while everyone was still sitting in the train waiting to leave. So it was obviously complete f****g bull***t.

Only in Britain would a company this utterly disgracefully incompetent be allowed to continue operating while still charging massively overpriced fees for tickets. I hate this country so much.

Still awaiting refund from journeys 24th August and 1st September to and from our holiday. GWR have delayed, asking for more details each time. I will not give up. Two trains between Ashchurch and Cheltenham were cancelled causing us hassle, the next trains being an hour later. One train from Bristol to Portsmouth suddenly stopped without warning at Westbury with no replacement or taxis leaving us stranded and struggling to reach our ferry to France. We had to reroute and pay nearly £100 for a taxi from Salisbury which got us there just in time. Not an experience I'd care to repeat with my 76 year old friend. Nightmare journey, unreliable trains and still no compensation.

I blame the state of our own railways at present after 13 years of Tory rule. I don’t expect the clowns that are Labour to make it any better. But GWR (not the staff), but GWR as a whole, are just woeful. Crap trains, always late, you’ll never get your money / delay compensation because they make it as DIFFICULT as possible to process it, and even then, it’s about 10 quid. They OVERLOAD trains to the point of someone may get crushed. Countless times I’ve sat in first class and said to them, tough, it’s a seat, there’s no differec between 1st and standard class anyway, and the wifi still doesn’t work there either.

Staff are usually pleasant and nice - it’s the greedy train operator that gets me. Avoid Oxford stops if you can. Has to be worst, they allow 100’s on the train to the point of INSANITY!

I hope the trains are nationalised. But it’s Labour, they got in by default and ran by an idiot

Yeah just joining in with everyone with silent voices as nothing ever going to change her is it? Pay £6k a year for a joke service. Nothing more to add. We are powerless.

Fares have more than doubled in recent months

I used to buy advance tickets 2 months before travel and paid approximately £36 each way from Stroud to Paddington. The same journey purchased in advance now costs me £80! Can you imagine if I charge my customers a 222% increase in price overnight with no justification?

I am forced to use this appalling service maybe twice a year between Bristol and Oxford.
Last time other trains on the route were cancelled, our train was therefore dangerously overcrowded and of course seat reservations didn't function. Stood all the way.
On the return the train from Didcot was almost on time,but half the train had been left at Paddington due to lack of crew. (Enploy more?) Stood all the way again.
My next trip is tomorrow and GWR have really got organised: they sold me a ticket then cancelled the train in advance.
I see the company is announcing an increase in shareholders dividends, but this is a shambles that absolutely meets the definition 'not fit for purpose.
My advice, never, ever be tempted to use this rip off railway.

Requires a negative rating! Absolute joke of a "service". Reliable in being incompetent, late, delayed, not having a clue what's going on. Over 15 years I can't think of a more useless service, yet prices keep going up double digits. Who are these clowns I charge making millions in bonuses? Strip the license, unfit to run a railway let alone a lemonade stall.