SWR Help Recensioni 

horrible horrible service. not usually a grumpy person, but caught a train going from london waterloo to liss. show the train guard my ticket, refuses to let me travel with my VALID ticket because of a 20minute difference despite getting a supposed open return. 28.60 with a railcard, no refund. for a minimum wage job (ive been there) the company dont need to steal from a broke uni student. they dont cover delays on their end, but happily steal out of our pockets dont they? 😆 dislike south western n that member of staff on the 3.30 train. 23rd July.

Train conductor Nigel, on the 14.05 from Waterloo to Weymouth on the 23rd July 2026 was an absolute champion of a gentleman. Warm, welcoming, friendly and even informative regarding good local deals in the area. Top chap! Give him a pay rise!

South Western Railway has become incredibly unreliable, especially on the London Waterloo to Weymouth route. The air conditioning on the carriages is frequently not working, making journeys extremely uncomfortable, particularly during warmer weather. This has been a recurring issue rather than a one-off incident.

On top of that, trains seem to be running late almost every day. Delays have become the norm rather than the exception, making it difficult to rely on the service for work or personal travel.

What makes the experience even more frustrating is the lack of helpfulness from the staff. When passengers ask for assistance or information, the response is often dismissive or unhelpful, leaving customers feeling ignored.

Considering the high cost of rail travel, passengers deserve a reliable, comfortable service and better customer support. South Western Railway seriously needs to improve its punctuality, maintain its trains properly, and provide better customer service. I cannot recommend this service in its current state.

I traveled from Axminster to Penzance and back yesterday.
In the morning I missed my Tain. Because I had an off peak ticket, I could easy take the next.
The journey is a delightful one. Trains were on time and the scenery is stunning.
On the way back one train after the other were chanced because of technical problems.
Staff in Penzance were incredibly friendly and helpful. After about an hour bus and taxi transport were organised to get me to Plymouth. From here with ongoing delay it went off to Exeter.
At Dawlish every train was on hold and we were regular informed what was causing the stop. Again staff were friendly, calm and very helpful.
Arriving in Exeter the last train to Axminster was gone.
The station manager arrange a taxi to get me home.
Maybe the journey took longer and I was waiting in cool trains or decided to wait for the next in the beautiful country site, staff of SWR and GWR gave ALL they could to make sure that no passenger were stranded. The whole time we were informed that we will get help to make it to our destination.
A massive THANK YOU to the rail companies to pull off the almost impossible. What a great team.
WELL DONE South West Railway and Great Western Railway
Sabine Schnier

It's a complete Joke!!!!! I missed my day at work so many times because of train disruption. The route from New Milton to Bournemouth is ridiculous. Trains are either delayed or cancelled on a constant basis. No bus replacement, no taxi service provided, and when you speak to operators they know nothing about. This is becoming a serious issue and affecting people mental health because we can't afford to call for absence at work because there are no trains available and no support whatsoever. Many people are becoming stressed and anxious because they don't know what to expect from the service every morning. They don't know if they will be able to go to work. Or if they need to pay £50 pound for a taxi, on top of the £35 already paid for a weekly card that they never get to fully use because service are always disrupted. This place was once known for exceptional transport services, efficiency, and reliability. Well, now it's the opposite. It's really concerning, and if things won't improve or people won't receive support with financial expenses... We will escalate this further!!!!

Southwestern rail is one of the disgusting companies I have the extreme displeasure of encountering on a regular basis.

They are a vile excuse of brand and the definition of a sham out fit.

If you have any option to avoid using thier services, take that option!

System failure all the time . From early morning till late evening

Screw this company, we left late on a train from London, absolutely roasting hot and packed full of people standing all down the aisles. It got so hot that we had bottles of water passed through the carriages (so thank you for that) but when we hit Yeovil junction we were told that we'd have to wait 20 minutes - 10 mins later, they cancelled the whole train and left us, burning hot and sweating, on the platform.

Awful
Always cancelling trains
Trains delayed
Trains over crowded
Over priced tickets
Hard to get a refund
I use to take train to see family every 2 weeks but cut it down to every two months due to how awful the trains are

3rd world service

Really poor. Why can’t they ever get anywhere close to when they say they will?? The trains are so slow anyway.

So people are supposed to take 3.5-hour journeys without a single socket around. AND without aircon in the hottest week of summer? Those are cattle wagons. Ew!

Another appalling service from SWR, trying to get from Winchester to Wandsworth Town, what a joke, ended up having to get a, taxi from Clapham to Wandsworth, train from Winchester to Clapham cancelled, so had to get another train to Wimbledon and change there. The app and info boards were useless, inaccurate info, completely wrong info on parts of the journey, had to find staff some were helpful, one gave the wrong info. How can a country like Spain which has hotter conditions operate a good service and cheaper and the UK cannot. SWR should be embarrassed and ashamed for the 3rd world service provided.

Day return from London to Winchester - ran on time, not too busy and decent seats.

Staff aren’t good though. They were quite silent collecting tickets - almost relying on gestures and grunts rather than language. The conductor (?) on the 2216 from Winchester to London 6th July wouldn’t let me get past him onto the train - telling me “to use a different door” as he had to stand in the middle of that one for some unexplained reason. What happened to calling customers sir or madam and interacting properly?

Staff do not enforce any sort of standard of behaviour on board. The quiet carriage was anything but. It’s the reason I prefer to drive and never use public transport without noise cancelling headphones. Want to save the planet? Make the train bearable.

Having mislaid the return ticket for my journey to London and despite having proof of purchase, SWT think it preferable to avoid exercising their discretion in favour of charging a pensioner for a second ticket. What a cynical and avaricious business model this is. Typical of a nationalised industry with no concept of customer service.

South Western Railway is a dying cash-cow being milked by a privileged few. If farmers transported livestock under the same conditions that SWR move people, they would rightly find themselves in the dock. 
But not so if you're part of the 'Inner Circle' & your friends are politicians.
On Friday the 26th June my Waterloo bound train was substantially delayed, because a train 'somewhere' had brake failure. So poor maintenance rather than an act of God.
When it did eventually arrive, everyone was forced off so that it could pull into a siding further up, it then reversed onto the opposite platform to begin its journey to London in the opposite direction via Southampton. This added 50 minutes to customers schedules & the worst was yet to come.
Several SWR trains homeward bound were Cancelled, SWR prefer 'Delayed'. 
It was a blisteringly hot day & the one that was running had insufficient A.C. output for the alarming overcrowding that ensued. We stood motionless on the platform packed in like sardines for 30 minutes under these conditions, sweating profusely & hearts pounding.
Compensation offered for this inhumane torture? ''If'' successful, £8.38!
If SWR cared they would have responded to every single complaint on here. But they haven't.
Managing Director Lawrence Bowman needs to be held to account for his dangerous & neglectful management & customers who suffer because of him adequately compensated.  
I intend to become a thorn in his heavily gilded paw.

They cancel your trains then don't let you refund their overpriced tickets. Save yourself the time and money and walk to your destination.

The onboard staff are friendly and the facilities were standard. However, the service itself should be classed as criminal offence. During a heatwave, removing half the carriages on a train to the seaside shows a staggering lack of common sense and amounts to convenient incompetence.

It is unacceptable to charge such high ticket prices and then leave passengers crammed in with barely enough room to stand, like the London Underground during rush hour. Overcrowding on this scale is not only uncomfortable but also raises serious concerns about passenger welfare and safety. Livestock has more rights.

While on holiday in this region thought for a change me and my wife would have a day travelling on SWR railway.
No particular destination just sitting on the train and watching the world go by.
On searching the internet I found they do a rangers and rovers ticket just like our local Network Greater Anglia .
So we walked to Winchester station and went to the ticket office,
A lovely lady tried to help us but had trouble finding what we wanted, I’m guessing her manager or supervisor was standing next to her.
She said she had sold this type of ticket the other day but couldn’t find it on the system.
The supervisor said to me we’re do you want to go I said nowhere in particular.
He then said we don’t do that type of ticket, I replied yes you do and also the lady said yes I sold one the other day.
Then I showed our train network ticket and what It covers.
Again he said we’re are you going 🤦‍♂️.
I said again just wanted to travel around on your network.
Bottom line the lady still wanted to help us but her supervisor or manager wasn’t being very helpful and also hadn’t got a clue about their own tickets they sell ,
Buy this time a long cue had developed so we decided to call it a day.
Unbelievable,
No wonder this train company gets so poor reviews.
And just to add the lovely lady tried to get the map up on her system what area covered but couldn’t even get that to work.

To start with, as many others have stated, if there was a "Zero Stars" option, I would have most certainly used it! - My wife and I were booked on a cruise from Southampton and travelled from Ipswich to Southampton on the outward journey via Liverpool Street, Elizabeth line to Reading and then finally the SWR train from Reading to Southampton as SWR has bus replacements for a month between London Waterloo and Southampton. The train from Reading was short, full and standing with no places whatsoever to locate mid to large cases and resembled a "Kolkata" local service - Our return journey on the 21st June was equally as unpleasant or more so. As Southampton has an enormous Cruise Terminal, Southampton Central platforms were full of passengers just off the ships , most with numerous large cases, Lifts at the Station were out of order so heavy cases had to be dragged up and down stairs by all, the train turned up, all 5 coaches!! and was once again full and standing with no where again to put any mid size or larger suitcases. The guard made copious announcements to not place cases on seats or in the gangways but where else were passengers to place them, on the roof??, miserable and unhelpful staff, no refreshments as usual (as SWR never resumed them after Covid!!) so all together another appalling journey into London Waterloo. SWR, for goodness sake, make your trains 10 coaches from Southampton, not Eastleigh! and provide areas for passengers luggage. SWR are indeed shockingly bad compared to other Rail Companies.