“One of the worst train line. Getting worse and worse. Almost everyday, there is a signal failure or point failure or fire or some excuses to cancel the trains at peak hrs. Service should be nationalise and ban these private companies. Commuters. Are suffering. Still have to go to work in London. No choice. Using this crazy trains.”
“Bought first class tickets as a treat for myself and my daughters as we have never travelled first class before. Assumed there would be complimentary food and drink, warmth and quiet. How wrong could I be?! No food/drink provided on a 3.5hr journey. Apparently, not provided 'since Covid' (yawn).
A woman and her 3 feral kids and dog shouting, kids screaming, kids and dog climbing all over chairs and tables for two thirds of the journey. No staff to be seen for first two hours of journey to sort this out. 21 degrees outside and sat in first class with coats on, due to the air con set to full blast.
SWR owned by company based in Hong Kong. British services are broken and need to be nationalised. I will avoid SWR in future. No wonder it has 1.5 star rating. That is generous! !”
“Travelled from Salisbury to Bath on 23rd March 2025. Absolutely disgraceful service from start to finish. Firstly, booked train from Salisbury was cancelled so had to wait for next train which was then overcrowded. On return, our booked train from Bath only had 3 carriages so couldn’t even get on. Again had to wait an hour for next train. Whole day was ruined and will never travel on swt again”
“Rush hour train on a busy route through Wimbledon to London Waterloo was inexplicably cut in half, 4 carriages only now! 8 was always a squeeze and oftentimes difficult to get on but 4???? Sent them an email and was told that's because they are planning to roll out new trains, when I asked how one thing has anything to do with the other the customer service rep then tried to chance the conversation to health and safety reasons. I'm sure when the same amount of people who are usually in 8 carriages are now trying to squeeze on 4 carriages that's a lot more safe now *rolls eyes*”
“Train departed Poole on time, then ran slow due to a slow train ahead. Arrived in Waterloo nearly 20 minutes late. No water or food available to buy onboard despite long journey time. Filthy windows as well. Constant bombardment of bullying no abuse, no rail fare dodging PAs. This country, is anything any good anymore?”
“South Western Railway have dirty old trains. Toliets out of order and staff that juat don't seem to have a clue how to run a train service. They don't deliver the same service as proper train companies - it really feels like they don't give a toss about anything other than ripping their customers off with high fares for an unacceptable level of service.”
“Do not use this train company. They readily took our booking and money on their website but would provide seat assignments from Paddington to St Austell in Cornwall - why? Because they overbooked the train to maximize their revenue. There were no seats available for myself & wife and we're in our 60s and she just had back surgery. There were lots of people like us standing in the aisle - disgraceful service. There were also people smoking & drinking on the train in no-smoking carriages. At no time did an employee of this train company come through to check tickets and handle any complaints. We're American and we will never use this train service again. It was so bad we decided to rent a car in Cornwall to drive back to London rather than get on one of their trains and suffer their disgraceful service.”
“Wednesday 9th November 2022, 3:30. Yet again: TRESPASSER ON THE TRACK. No action is taken to fine these morons. They are more concerned that the trespasser is cared for, given a coffee and probably driven home. Result? A week later, the same thing causing mass disruption. SW Trains a total shower.”
“May 15th 2022 No information about line closures on website. Richmond Station closed so no info there either. No way of finding where replacement busses departed from. No toilets open at Twickenham. Train cancelled. Total failure”
“Terrible take the train get a bus. Finished 12 hour shift only to find bus service to egham. I cannot express how bad the service is. Staff at Clapham had to look it up on there phone for information. Minus 5 stars”
“Train cancelled. After the cancelled train departure time 3 trains went through the station any one could have stopped. Trains are late, overcrowded and dirty. The service is an embarrassment.
I will never travel by train unless I absolutely have to. Hope working from home really hurts the company”
“Absolutely rubbish. Each time I book a ticket, a day before I’m told the train has been cancelled and asked to find another train within the same time conditions (what?! I chose my initial time for a reason! You cancel and I have to find out which time suits you?!!) Just found out I’ll miss my friend’s wedding because a ticket I booked months ago has been cancelled. Honestly, it’s better to drive than get the train- half the price and at least you know you’ll get there. Ridiculous that public transport makes people want to pollute more. Really this whole service should be put into administration. Shocking, priced prohibitive for a sub standard service and not serving this country at all”
“All-round terrible service! Ridiculous prices that are always increasing, unbelievably pricey fines for for even a lost ticket that often rise above their stated bracket with these avenues of money clearly not going into the trains themselves seeing as the trains themselves are filthy and constantly fail to arrive in or around the time they are supposed to.”
“Packed train, service delayed for the most insane reasons eg. We can't find a train while I was sat on the train they were talking about (3 hours in Salisbury).
The staff redefine what it is to be rude, apathetic and aggravating. The only company where staff have been so obnoxious i complained.
Not to mention their lack of booking system and overpacked trains are danger out in the pandemic.”
“Awful service, no extra trains put on since before lockdown. Don’t care about passenger safety or social distance on train as long as they make money. They don’t listen to customers just give lots of excuses.”
“Southwestern Railways used to offer a fairly reasonable service, but over the past year have deteriorated alarmingly and their customer service as well.
On the 17/10/18 I bought a ticket to travel from Bracknell to travel to Clapham Junction, a journey of approximately 45 minutes. The service was delayed by just over an hour and then an announcement was made en route that they would not be stopping at Clapham Junction and that passengers should get off at the next station and wait for another train. I eventually arrived at my destination two and a half hours after my scheduled departure. The ultimate insult was that I submitted a delay repay claim - an time consuming and tedious process - and have just received a compensation payment of SEVENTY THREE PENCE!!”
