West Midlands Railway Reviews 

Can’t thank Joe enough for the help with my refunds
He works in customer relations, he is a credit to the company
Thank you Joe :)

Hard to say what went right

A 2 hour journey took 7 hours yet here’s my response after a very delayed reply, oh and don’t bother trying to get refunded they refuse with no explanation 👍 well.

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the issues you had when attempting to travel with us. I apologise for any inconvenience and frustration caused, as well as the impact this had on your travel plans.

It's unfortunate to hear about the difficulties you had travelling that day. While I do appreciate the problems you experienced as a result, we do not reimburse for lost wages I'm afraid. I'm sorry we are unable to grant your request.

With regards to the delay itself, you can make a claim for compensation via the delay repay page on our website. I have attached a link below to the page on our website where you can submit your claim:

Delay Repay | LNR | London Northwestern Railway

I hope that helps. Thank you for taking the time to contact us

Following an app update at the start of the year which prevents flexi-season ticket holders from viewing previously activated tickets, and blocks screen captures. WMR have deliberately made it impossible for Flexi-season ticket holders to make delay repay claims. Given the appalling quality of service this is a frequent necessity.

I have made multiple complaints about this which have resulted in no resolution to the problem and have included: being told to send the ticket barcode to delay repay (precisely the thing that is being blocked); referring me to an email address that doesn't exist and bounces all messages; and referring me to a team that cannot process delay repay claims.

This matter has been referred to the rail ombudsman.
(date listed is that of my initial complaint)

Giving one star because you can’t give less than zero

It’s hard to rate a service which never operates. Most services are cancelled for the never ending “train crew shortages”

The company seems to only employ social media staff who post endless nonsense without actually providing any useful information.

If they recruited and trained as many people to run trains, we might actually have a service which operates to the benefit of the West Midlands.

Want to say a big thank you to the guard on the 22:11 Birmingham- wolvohamption train who really helped me out tonight

I booked a train ticket for one 2hrs later as did not know when my national express coach was due in.

As it came I early I wanted to get home early and not wait 2hrs for my train. Cross country trains refused me on with the pre booked ticet but the Wmt aloud me to travel . Big thank you for helping me and that beautiful smile made my day I was cold and only had shorts and a t shirt on so your kindness to aloow me to travel was greatly appreciated I never bought her name but thought to come on here and leave a review as that one act of kindness now has make my evening 💯❤️

I’d rather walk than use this excuse for a business!
Garbage timetable, late trains and now trying to push their WOKE ideology down everyone’s throats!
Let’s hope they are Nationalised and out on the dole where they belong!

Could NOT get on board.
Train operator closed door exactly 16:45.
I was there 16:45 and 8seconds and he stood on the platform and refused to let me and 3 other people in - there was room in the train- he just said to take later train.
I had short time between trains and couldn't get to Walsall on time because this train operator refused to let waiting people in.

I would give zero stars if the option were available.

This company is complete rubbish. Had 4 carriages and barely any seats. You can’t reserve seats in advance so there is a risk you will be stood up all the way from Birmingham to Euston as I was.

If I had know my ticket was for such a garbage train, I would have driven instead.

Our evening train from London to Northampton almost made it to Northampton but then there was a problem on the track involving emergency services, so we were reversed back to Milton Keynes and advised by the driver to 'get help from staff on the platform or take a taxi home if we were going to Northampton' as there were no other options, and a replacement bus would not be provided so late in the evening.

There were no staff on the platform (no surprise) and we joined the scrum for a taxi, eventually finding one at midnight.

What happened couldn't have been anticipated (the incident) and we didn't mind taking a taxi, as a refund was promised.

But 2 months later we are still waiting for the refund (£50), and this is really frustrating. If you email you don't get a response. If you call they can't help - all they can do is 'tell your case handler that you called'.

My sense is now that you're really very much 'on your own' when you travel with these guys, and need to be able to fund an alternative if the need arises. 2 months is too long to wait for what was a very straightforward scenario with receipts etc provided via the advertised channels.

Wish I could score worse. Got delayed by over two hours and then even gaslit by the company for "lack of evidence" claiming money back despite providing them with all evidence asked for. Then my account being deleted so I couldn't go further with it, despite being able to provide further evidence. If there's another option, take it. If something goes wrong with these guys, they won't help you out or even give you common decency

Excellent service today. Just as I would hope, everything was on time, comfortable, clean, friendly staff. And my return ticket was only a few ££

Hi All
I hope nobody ever have ugly experience I had
14/01/2025 I bought proper ticket from Rugeley Trent valley to Flitwick which costed me £27,50 including Senior rail card when I arrived to Milton Keynes Central train station which I had another 5 stations to go I decided to end my journey to visit my son who lives nearby BUT lady ticket controller who doesnt deserve to be ticket controller stopped me and fined me £140.00 and still didnt let me go back to train or to leave the station unless I bought another ticket,when I opposed she called Station guard which was twice my size,station manager and herself they all surrounded me like I am a criminal, good job I didnt have machine gun I felt worthless helpless and i had to buy another ticket but to be treated like a criminal in front of all passengers affected me 6 weeks until a letter come to my house from Bailiffs called IRCAS unless I pay I will have criminal record and thousand pound fine.eventually they discovered they made a mistake and they cancelled fine but not a sorry and this made a me a think big companies got no hearth, now ball is in their court they can take me court if anything i said was lie.(get rid of that nasty ticket controller lady or send her to back to training.

Horrendous trains! Always filthy, the loos are disgusting and soaking wet with god knows what, there’s never any loo roll and the taps don’t work. The seats are uncomfortable and cramped and people can be seen smoking are vaping on the train. Do not use!!!

Train was late. There was no room even for kids and elderly people to sit. Train randomly stopped for no reason, not even an announcement as to why. Really really terrible.

Awful service. People smoking at trains stations. 2 carriages on snow hill line services. Overcrowded. One toilet on long journeys.

Same again cancelled train and next one running late.
Weekly occurrence!

No Trains from Birmingham to Walsall running all day. No updates. Excuses are issues with signals/train broken down [add/change as ever]. Trains never run on time, if at all. Trains always dangerous overcrowded with less carriages when do run.

This company shows total contempt for passengers on what are simple services it runs. Prices are extremely high for what service it does (on occasions) offer. All the other reviews are bang on in their observations.

Just one final thing: this company appears to only have (lots of) staff employed to penalise passengers for running a very vague and not well published Penalty Fare System. That is when often (a) there are no staff at its tickets offices; AND (b) no ticket machines work; AND (c) its online system for booking tickets fails to work; AND (d) they cancel journeys last minute without any notice.

Birmingham Snow Hill line- really bad.
Trains are cancelled and delayed almost everyday, sometimes with a minute’s notice. It’s difficult to plan connecting journeys and work schedules, requiring journeys that start much earlier (usually two services earlier to avoid the potential of missing connections or bei by late). Most services are running with fewer carriages with ridiculous excuses to explain why. I.e more trains than usual requiring maintenance, the hail in December damaged causing additional maintenance. Frequent rush hour services requiring 5 carriages run with just 2 or 3, they are dangerously overcrowded. The trains are dirty and badly maintained. It’s difficult to determine positives.

I catch trains off and on. Bit I realised that when travelling on trains no one ever checks your ticket. Must be loads of train dodgers because I have considered it. To pay 5-10 pounds and you know some people havnt paid a penny. Should be more train inspectors. Knowing my luck would get caught and pay a massive e fine

To avoid passengers from taking the wrong train when the train is on the same platform as the one intended to take. Announcement must be compulsory stating the destination and that the train is ready to depart. Anyone unfamiliar with the area will most likely take the wrong train if there vision is bad