Great Western Railway Reviews 

We were delayed severely on our way back to London from Penzance. I travel all the time and have never come across a more organised company than GWR when it comes to delays. They immediately mobilised to explain, apologies, offer alternatives, give out free refreshments and suggest how to apply for a refund if applicable. Totally impressive and other railways and airlines should learn from them.

I rarely travel by train, once or twice a year with GWR. For the last 3 years I have not had a single journey that hasn't been delayed. Shortest delay has been 35 minutes, longest and the most recent 2 hours 15 minutes. GWR are a shower of shi*!

Can't buy a ticket online without setting up an account with them. I never use trains so there is absolutely no need for me to waste my time doing an account, only for GWR to possess my most important data. If I went to your ticket office you wouldn't force me to set up an account. Terrible service.

Purchased a first class ticket as I had important work to do. Train from Cardiff to Reading cancelled. Had to catch a different train which had to bear the brunt of the cancellation. Basically spent a heap of money, day disrupted, important contract delayed oh and the staff comment not my problem mate. No wonder I try and use trains as little as possible.

You lot should genuinely stop calling yourselves a train company and just rebrand as a sightseeing service, because nobody arrives anywhere on time.

I’ve spent over £150 on Ubers this week alone because your trains seem to operate on hopes, dreams, and complete unpredictability. I even left earlier to catch the first train out, and somehow I’m still late for work. That’s almost impressive.

Do you have any idea how many people depend on you? Students missing classes, people starting work at 9, hospital appointments, emergencies, and yet every day it’s like you’re spinning a wheel to decide whether trains will actually run.

At this point, my weather app is a more reliable transport planner than your timetable.

Maybe replace “We’re sorry for the delay” with “We have absolutely no idea what’s going on either”at least that would be honest.

Sort yourselves out mate. Your service isn’t just unreliable anymore. I might even get my Temu delivery before I get to my destination using your service.

Too unreliable to use for anything other than commuting. Trains usually late, connections missed and zero concern for the passenger

Use the Par to St Austell and Par to Truro a few times a week. And every week there's a cancellation making me late for work. Every week! Today it was 2 cancelled and 1 "delayed" making me over an hour late for work and had to find other means of travel. Utter failure of a train company. I leave home over an hour early (roughly 1.5 hours before my shift starts) and I'm still late for work. If the buses were more reliable, I'd take those.

And the delay repay? Utter joke. £1.50 - £2 for each time. I don't bother anymore, which is what I suspect they want you to do.

High price and rude staff especially at Paddington Station at the gate's if your a supervisor should be able to help if not your in the wrong position.Great Western should do better especially as they charge crazy prices for a journey also the wifi is rubish for that price . Overall am surprised how there still operating.

Apart from , late trains , cancelled trains and not enough staff helping on the concourse to redirect passengers, announcements that no one can hear in Paddington because of the noise and echo, not putting up the reservation lights on seats early enough, so it’s chaos , as everyone is in each others seats , and then people with seat reservations don’t end up with a seat , because someone without a seat reservation has taken their seat .
The new common complaint now is no catering, my journey is 2 hours long , but many people travel further on this line , with no prospect of a cup of tea or a water .
GWR is an absolute disgrace

Another delayed train. Another missed connection, now I have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. I rarely arrive anywhere on time when traveling on trains nowadays.

Delayed, misinformed by rail staff about the length of delay. Very poor service. Will not bother booking train journeys any more.

Trains are overcrowded and expensive. The train between Bristol and London is often cancelled causing the next train to be overcrowded. Experiences like this just make it easier to drive. There are always people standing for the whole train, which is unacceptable.

Absolutely fantastic journey from Worcester, the 11.21am, today! On time. Efficient. Peter in particular was hugely welcoming and helpful. What a credit to the GWR team. We disembarked our train with a smile on our faces! What a super start to our weekend away! Thank you Peter!

Our train from Exeter to Paddington was terminated at Westbury because the line ahead had been closed due to a "police incident".
I have just received my refund under the DelayRepay scheme, but I admit to feeling a bit guilty about it. After all this time the disruption was not the fault of GWR. GWR were very helpful in fact. The train manager told us how to get to Paddington from Westbury via Bath.
My only complaint was that the GWR trains from Westbury to Bath and onward were not held to allow a full train load, including the elderly, infirm, and mothers with young children, to make the connections which were very tight indeed.
The rush was, in true British style, dignified, but nevertheless hazardous and not helped by officious platform guards at Bath who herded passengers on to the carriages nearest the underpass from which they had emerged causing extreme congestion in that part of the train, such that the refreshment trolly could not pass.
My wife and I made a dash for the front of the train where there were spare seats and no congestion. A five minute delay to each of these connections to allow a more orderly embarkation would surely have been justified.

Staff are generally helpful, but a few kind car crew can't offset the absolute monstrous f up that is GWR.
Never in my life have I been so incredibly late, yet somehow payed such a ridiculous amount to travel on a hanky, loud, uncomfortable rail car.

I contacted Great Western Railway to request a refund after my father and two family members were wrongly charged for tickets. They travelled from Reading to Gatwick Airport on 13 July on a 4:30am train with valid off-peak tickets. Despite this, the ticket inspector told them it was peak time and forced them to buy new tickets costing around £100.

My father is a foreigner and does not speak English, which made the situation even more difficult for him. I contacted GWR on his behalf to explain and request a refund, but they refused to help simply because the tickets were not in my name.

This feels unfair and dismissive. Instead of resolving a clear mistake, they are hiding behind technicalities and expecting someone who cannot speak English to handle the complaint alone.

Just walk mate

Again I use this absolute pathetic train service everyday and AGAIN today we have delays and disruption getting to and from work.
They need to take the Great out the name as there is nothing great about this service.
I hate using Western Railway its the worst train service in the country without a doubt.

SHIT AS USUAL

Massive thanks to Karl Reid, train manager on the GWR from Cheltenham to London for being so kind and thoughtful to my daughter who loves and is fascinated by trains. Our best journey ever and thanks to you. Customers service at it’s absolute finest !

My journey from Reading to Plymouth (arriving at 22:18 on July 28) was very comfortable and on time. The staff were super helpful and gave outstanding service. Seat food service ran through the carriage 3 times with a great selection of hot and cold dinks and snacks. It’s great to see staff at work who are determined to provide a great customer experience. A special mention to Martin for his kind comments and last service tea and snacks.