Grand Central Rail Reviews

Brought an advance first class ticket - when train arrived no first class carriage - made a claim for monies back - received a notification but no resolution after 28 days - ring customer service - on the phone for over 45 mins before anyone answered the phone!

Amazing service from Grand central, so happy to assist and resolved an issue I had resulting in me having to get another train and they dealt with this exceptionally .

Travelled to kings cross from eaglescliffe Friday 17th June hottest day of year, train on time but air con not working in our carriage. We were offered a seat move. Return journey Sunday 19th, cancelled with little notice. No real contingency plans, put on next train that transpired was already fully booked, stood all way from London. Team at kings cross, very unorganised, in fact appeared quite panicked, which did not help situation.

Travelled from Eaglescliffe to Kings Cross on the 12/6/22. Paid for First class travel, but it was not worth it., I had expected the same excellent level of service as LNER on my outbound journey, but there was no comparison just free tea and biscuits and a bottle of water. Generally very poor service. One carriage had no air conditioning, and then we had to stop to pick up passengers from a broken train. LNER was cheaper and so much better, will not be travelling Grand Central again

Booked first class ticket 1348 (return journey) from London KX to Eaglescliffe. Train cancelled as engine broke (engineer?). Barely any announcement other than train cancelled. Then had to get on next train an hour and a half later and stand in FIRST CLASS virtually the whole way. Whole train jam packed with people standing Complementary drinks impossible. Appeared to be no contingency arrangements whatsoever. Appalling.

i do really enjoy travelling on grand central but the people running the twitter account are totally useless. they can’t seem to answer a question with the information you need, or they just don’t know and won’t say that. the website says i need a reservation to travel on strike days however a guy on twitter told me i didn’t need one?? i tried to make a reservation and they said no to me but were giving reservations to others. is the train full or am i not someone you want on your trains? is this boris johnson or a rail company

I had to swap a journey and it was really easy to do with Julie.
She was great and did everything for me.
Excellent customer service.

Very happy

Booked first class. Literally no first class carriage today, its been removed so A, B, C, D and F are accomodating the missing carriage passengers. Except they aren't, I've been moved twice now despite having a reservation, no catering to seat available and cramped conditions. I am standing in a corridor writing this because it's the only place I could get peace. Intended to work on the train so already behind. Leaving the service early and changing to LNER at Doncaster.

Usually cheaper than Northern in advance, but you get what you pay for: cancellations, delays, air conditioning problems (in my experience). And your tickets aren't valid on Northern if cancelled (and there are only a few trains each day).

Basically not worth the risk just to save a few quid. I seem to remember they were pretty good when they started out years ago, but it's a shoddy operation now.

While the actual rail service is usually quite bad (as with all companies in the UK unfortunately), the staff are lovely and amazingly helpful in the face of this without fail. Recently on the KGX->Bradford Interchange train that got delayed (7:49 train, 3/06/22) Elaine and the rest of the crew were absolutely phenomenal in this irritating situation and made sure all the passengers were okay. Genuinely top notch customer service & they all deserve kudos

Travelled on the Bradford Interchange to London train both ways.
Train was on time for both routes, the carriages reasonably clean and comfortable.

One issue is that attendants are not very easy to find if you need to speak to someone.

A poor experience overall. Overly priced to begin with. I was then met by a polish National (gender unidentifiable) who abused me on the train!

No GC member of staff was around. Avoid unless you want to travel with trash! Not to mention the seats are incredibly uncomfortable! The customer service is also very poor and no response is received when contacting Gc

I'm on the 11:27am to Sunderland. I booked 1st class as I can't walk to the buffet with a walking stick and then carry a drink back. This is the 2nd journey I've taken this month were the option to be served at my seat was not available, so a very dry journey. I now don't trust GC to have this option available. It seems that saving money takes priority over a good service. I have always chosen GC in the past due to their excellent service and also recommended them to friends - NO longer because they can't consistently live up to their claims of a quality service. The conductor announced this train was fully booked and standing room only. There are people standing in this carriage and the next one, so even if I was able bodied it would be difficult to walk down to the buffet but with a walking stick it's impossible. I feel this is definitely a case of ageism. GC needs to consider that not everyone has a smart phone. On my previous journey I helped to order for an elderly couple who got on at Northallerton and didn't have a phone but the drinks didn't arrive. This train was travelling to London and on asking the ticket inspector, she said they were so busy that catering had switched off the 'at table service'. This couple had travelled up using LNER first class and had expected the same level of service from GC but were really disappointed. On their LNER journey there was a trolley service for 1st class with the option of a hot meal or sandwich, endless tea,coffee,biscuits and no need for a smart phone. They will not be using GC in the future and nor will I.

Book if it's so much cheaper that you can't consider any alternatives, otherwise just avoid...

On GC trains we've experienced repeat issues where air con broken (always carriage d!), repeat issues of carriages leaking when it rains & you have to move seats or get wet, a request for help with seat reservations for someone with limited mobility messed up & double booked, having card payment issues making the catering coach cash only so you're stuck without food/drink if you don't have it, WiFi issues.

It's also been MONTHS now of cancellations due to more trains that usual needing repairs. This has impacted me personally since at least March, why isn't it sorted yet?

Makes me wonder if GC are heading into going out of business?!

Currently on a train to London King's Cross. Had booked first class. Train arrived. No first class carriage. Managed to get a seat in standard. Train jammed with noisy rabble getting high on their alcohol. This is dire!