West Midlands Railway Reviews 

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY IF YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO GO TO YOUR LOCATION. For my train tickets I use trainline, and for the second time I have had the disservice of being allocated with a Western Midlands Railway service. The first time I used this train line was on the 25th of May from Birmingham New street to London. With only 2 stops from New street to the bloody Birmingham airport and some F off area I can’t remember, the train conductor announced that ALL of the stops will be cancelled due to them being understaffed; why start the train in the first place If you knew there were only 2 of you?? We haven’t even left Birmingham and you’re cancelling the train already??! WHY BOTHER? This led me to be stuck I’m Rugby at 10pm in the night having no idea how the hell I was going to get back to London. Now fast forward to today, I’m on the train from London to Birmingham peacefully enjoying my book just to see on the screen that the train is terminating at Northampton (and all the stops after are cancelled). WHAT THE HELL IS THERE TO DO IN NORTHAMPTON? GENUINELY?!? They didn’t even have the courtesy to initially make an announcement, I had to hear the sighs and utterances of everyone else to be inconvenienced with the information. Oh! But eventually the train driver did finally speak to us, he warmly started the announcement with a “good afternoon” first of all it’s 11pm and 2nd of all piss off with your “good afternoon” how the hell am I going to get to Birmingham?!?! There were people on there who were going to football games going to Coventry now having their journey delayed and I had plans that I unfortunately had to cancel and abandon my journey because of this. Prior to this disaster I had booked time off work (and had to take an unpaid day off) to make this journey just for me to come back and do F all with my day. Also my return ticket from Birmingham to London is non refundable, so not only has this disgraceful company wasted my money, you have wasted my time, F’ed with my money work wise (shifts I could’ve picked up today) they have ruined my plans and have F’ed me right off. If I could give this company 0 stars I would; a circus full of slow monkeys and dumb donkeys can run a better train line than West Midlands Railway. But you know which company has never let me down?? Avanti West Coast, the time where I was stranded in Rugby I was able to take an Avanti West Coast train home, I have never dealt with such tomfoolery with this company. If you want a reliable train line use any one BUT West Midlands Railway. And if you have a ticket with them, you might as well refund it now because they’ll just cancel it halfway through your journey and drop you off some random train station in England.

Expensive. Costs £20 for a 36 mile journey. In Belgium I paid £9.20 for a 55 mile journey at same time of day.

Completely utter dogshit service. I would give it 0 stars if I could. They have the audacity to charge for this. Unbelievable that there's a high chance the driver doesn't even turn up and your train gets cancelled. Or a leaf is spotted 1km from the track so an entire exhibition needs to be mounted to clear it. Honestly you might as well walk to save your sanity.

I tried to purchase a ticket from Telford to honeybourne for me and my girlfriend, I tried to buy two adult tickets as me and my girlfriend are above 16, the app ended up glitching and made me buy 2 child tickets, I refunded them straight away and it ended up taking 2 days to get a refund, then I tried doing it on my girlfriends phone and it ended up saying 2 adults which i thought was all good but when we had them printed we didn’t realise they actually came out as two child tickets!!! We ended up on the train without realising and when we got checked we ended up getting fined £148 because the ticket instructor didn’t have any sympathy for our situation with the app and didn’t understand that I didn’t try to buy child tickets and instead wanted adult ones. That and the 4 tickets we bought ended up costing me well over £200 and I’m fuming about it.

Got to catch my train Monday morning. Something happened and I could not get my train. Hassan was so kind helpful and patient. I will be on the next train and I feel calm again. Thank you once again Hassan 😊

me and my friend (both quite autistic) got on a train to birmingham international to go to the NEC, we were rushed by 3 large men in vests and body suits and pressures to provide our house address, personal details and we came to find we had all of this happen because we revived an under 16’s ticket as 17 and 16 year olds. we were told we need to pay £100 and that we could be prosecuted. we both felt terrified and like we had done something horribly wrong, terrible staff treating patrons like criminals for getting a slightly cheaper ticket in our already failing economy. will avoid whenever possible.

1 star is actually to much.
Frequent service disruptions and last-minute cancellations not presented real-life events between the app and train station ( trains running on the app Vs train station cancelled).
Disappointed for the money you charged for a ticket.
Is UK not middle Africa services!!!

On a train from Crewe to London Euston yesterday we are suddenly told as we were pulling into Milton Keynes that the train will not be travelling any further. No explanation just "sorry folks we won't be travelling any further than here". No compensation offered. Absolutely amateurish

I travelled with West Midlands Railway (WMR) on 10/07/2026 from Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston.
When I reached Crewe, the service was terminated due to strike action. This was completely beyond my control. I called WMR customer service, and their representative told me that I could use my existing WMR ticket on another train operator to continue my journey to London.

The only available option was Avanti West Coast. However, when I tried to board the Avanti train with my WMR ticket, I was refused and told that my ticket was not valid. The staff advised me to purchase a new Avanti ticket if I wanted to continue my journey. As I had no other option, I was forced to buy a new ticket from Crewe to London for £59.99.

When I returned home, I contacted WMR Customer Relations. They asked me to send them a copy of my Avanti ticket and all the supporting evidence, saying they would investigate the matter. I provided everything they requested.

After waiting 18 days, I finally received a response. They declined my refund request with a brief message stating that they were "unable to process your refund." No proper explanation was given, despite the fact that I had provided all the evidence they asked for.

This was an extremely disappointing experience. The strike action was not my fault, and I relied on the advice given by WMR's own customer service team. Because of their incorrect information, I ended up paying an extra £59.99 just to complete my journey. Instead of taking responsibility, they simply refused to reimburse me.

I would not recommend West Midlands Railway. Their fares may be cheaper than other operators, but in my experience, that comes at the expense of customer service and support when things go wrong. If you value reliable customer care, I would avoid travelling with WMR.

If Andy Burnham thinks nationalisation will improve our railways, perhaps he should travel by WMR, who at least are consistent.... ly bad. Only difference I can see is that as a private company they treated their customers with contempt, and now their treat citizens with contempt. Latest dismal offering today of late on trip into Brum and late on return journey. They couldnt quit make up their minds about cause, so they trotted out some of the WMR book of excuses. The train was late because of.... a problem with the train in front, a signalling issue and a police incident. They resisted the old Reggie Perrin excuse of Hippos on the line at Kings Norton. So Andy... please sort it out.... but I wont be holding my breadth.

I've been using this train service for many years and it's getting worse by the day. Their delay repay system is a joke, I'm currently waiting for my claims that's hasn't been sorted for over 2 weeks and they advertise that everyone gets refunds pretty quickly which is false advertisement.

Now with the TSSA strikes happening pretty much every couple of weeks it's effecting my work schedule as I work both Fridays and Saturdays (mostly evenings).

Unnecessary cancellations is really annoying especially when loads of people could be stranded.

Plus I rarely see staff check for tickets since I do regularly see people who don't buy a ticket and get away with it while I pay over £122 A MONTH just to get to work!

This company needs to get a grip and make serious changes for the benefit of the passengers otherwise we need a new more friendly, honest and respectful service to replace... this so-called reliable train wreck service.

Rubbish. Delayed. No information provided, no updates, nothing. Eventually told to use other trains.

I turned up late, so I didn't have time to buy a ticket. I thought I would be able to on the train, but was told 'You're getting a £50 penalty and although I can let you buy a ticket on board, that would be me doing you a favour'. I was willing to pay for the ticket, I had my purse out and everything. I felt like I was completely ignored when asked to explain and it seemed like no matter what I said, I was getting that penalty no matter what.

It's not just the train service that is woeful – my train travelled a few stations and then stopped in Crewe where we were told it was cancelled due to points failure and there would be no more trains today. No staff to help or redirect you or keep you informed. EVEN WORSE is the efforts they go to to not give you a refund. Their online Delay and Repay form appears to be designed to block attempts at claiming a refund. A shedload of info is required, you need to downsize images of yuor ticket as otherwise the site won't accept them and then one of two things happen: the form just drops out/disappears or your receive a message saying 'You are not travelling today. We do not recognise this ticket.' Crookery in plain sight.

App broken for weeks so unable to use a ticket. There is no other way
Staff checking tickets abusive

Cheap train fare but no working toilets on a 2hours+ journey from Crewe to London.

Thieving scum cancelled a train, made me wait 10 days for a refund and only gave me a 50% refund for a cancelled train that the station announcement, and trainline app both stated as CANCELLED. They claim it was only 30 minutes late! I certainly wasnt on it.

I've appealed, I've also hit the request refund on the trainline app which automatically says I'm due a FULL REFUND for the CANCELLATION.

I am writing to make a formal complaint about the unacceptable service I experienced today.

I rushed to catch my train and arrived at the platform in time to board. However, the train doors were already closed at approximately 6:37:14, despite the scheduled departure time indicating they should not have closed until around 6:37:30. This meant I was unable to board the train, even though I had made every effort to arrive before departure.

Missing this train caused me to be late for work, resulting in unnecessary stress and disruption to my day. I find it unacceptable that the doors appeared to close earlier than the scheduled departure time, and I believe this matter should be investigated thoroughly.

I request that you review the CCTV footage and any relevant operational records to determine why the train doors closed before the advertised departure time. I would also like to understand what action will be taken to prevent this from happening to other passengers.

Given the inconvenience, stress, and financial impact this incident has caused, I am requesting full compensation. I also ask that this complaint is taken seriously and that I receive a full explanation of the outcome of your investigation.

I look forward to your prompt response.

I made one honest mistake by boarding the wrong train during an interchange. There was no intent to avoid paying and no financial loss to the operator, yet I was fined £130. My appeal was dismissed without any real consideration. This feels less like customer service and more like a system designed to punish genuine passengers instead of catching fare evaders. Don't expect fairness or common sense—just penalties.

I spoke to the customer relations staff. A women, the rudest person I have spoken to. No sympathy, sarcastic comments, didn’t solve the problem, spoke in a way which confused me more. So unbelievably rude at the end of the call. This is shocking behaviour, I was told I would speak to someone “higher up”, and never have I been treated with this much disrespect. Westmidland services should think twice about who they put in “customer relations”. It is appalling.