EMR Reviews 

I have been unsuccessfully trying to receive reimbursement for a cancelled train for more than a month now. My online application is rejected for a generic reason. The customer service would not react to emails. I am just hopeless and will have to reach out to the Rail Ombudsman.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Whilst this is a five-star review, those stars are entirely for the exceptional customer service we received from a wonderful member of staff, Chris Giorgio.

After a long weekend in London, we arrived at St Pancras to catch our train home, only to find that services had been suspended for over two hours, with no clear indication of when they would resume. As you can imagine, there were many confused, anxious and frustrated passengers trying to work out how they were going to get home.

Throughout all of this, Chris remained calm, friendly, approachable and incredibly helpful. He was constantly on hand, answering questions, reassuring passengers and doing everything he could to help people navigate a very stressful situation. Despite the chaos around him, he never once appeared flustered and treated everyone with kindness, patience and respect.

We were fortunate enough to board our train earlier than originally announced, and once again Chris was there to help me and my mum, making sure we got on safely.

I felt compelled to write this review simply to recognise Chris and thank him for his outstanding professionalism. He turned what could have been an overwhelmingly frustrating experience into one that reminded us just how much difference one genuinely caring person can make.

Chris is a true asset to EMR, and I hope he receives the recognition he so thoroughly deserves. Thank you again, Chris.

EDIT - 31st July 2026 :-
In the news today
"East Midlands Railway (EMR) services will be hit by strikes on weekends throughout August 2026. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has announced three 24-hour walk-outs. The union says the strike is in response to EMR failing to withdraw faulty trains.
RMT members working for EMR will walk out on the following dates:

Saturday August 1
Saturday August 8
Saturday August 15
The RMT is also taking action short of strike on August 2-7, 9-14 and 16 onwards."

I just took a return from Leicester to St Pancras on one of these new Aurora trains. While the train does look great from the outside, the first thing I found was that the standard seats are very hard. The loo attached to our carriage was broken down too, not good. When I was waiting to get off there just happened to be a member of staff waiting too. He told me that the whole train frequently breaks down as well as the loos which constantly break down also.
This became obvious to me when waiting for my return train. It got cancelled. That brought on chaotic scenes as hoards of people rushed to get on the next available train and a hell of a lot of people had to stand.
The lady I sat next to makes the return journey from Sheffield to London 3 times a week and she told me that the first class seats are very uncomfortable and that trains are often cancelled. In her experience, of the 6 trains she takes a week, over half are usually cancelled.
I was planning a trip to Brighton in a couple of weeks but upon looking at the schedules and seeing warnings of disruption and delays, coupled with the experience I'd already had, that trip is now cancelled.
It's also very annoying that you cannot book specific seats on these trains and that there are only 2 tables in each carriage. Many people with children will find the kids getting restless and probably acting out because they have no space to do anything. Also many people try and work when travelling but now there is nowhere for their laptops.
All in all I give them 3/10

We booked a train ticket to London, hoping this would be a stress free trip. However, the train on was overbooked, only 5 coaches. We had to stand up for an hour with 3 suitcases in the isle. There was no where for us to stand. This blocked up the isle so in an emergency no one could get past us. Where were we to stand? The points between carriages were full. This is a safety concern and shows profit over safety. So on our return, again there is no where for us to stand or sit. And we have 3 suitcases, surely we can’t be expected to leave them unattended and us to wait elsewhere.

They should not overbook. They should bring back the seat reservation.

I feel sorry for EMR customer-facing staff. They're having to face disgruntled passengers whilst senior managers are hidden well out of the way. I'm not a staff member, just a customer who uses the 'service' a lot (the St pancras to Corby line, and intercity trains on that route), but having seen how much EMR has detiorated this year (and it wasn't great before that), it's almost pitiful. The UK is the 5th largest economy by GDP globally, yet EMR is like a third-world railway service... despite sky-high ticket prices. It's very disappointing that Hitachi, a Japanese company, is also involved in this - if you've been to Japan and used their amazing railway services (the Shinkansen etc), you'd understand why it's so surprising. Anyway, having been into London twice this week, and messed around pretty heavily on both trips with very late / delayed or cancelled trains, what can you say? It's beyond depressing. That said, I did actually come back home on a train this week, with barely anyone else in it... perhaps people had given up and stayed away from London?

Worst rail Co that exists- ageing stock compounded with rubbish new models bought from Hitachi- nothing but really poor excuses. You couldn’t invent the list of excuses that are put out- are there really highly paid executives running this or a bunch of school kids on a work experience event- no disrespect to school kids!!

Irresponsible, unreliable and money hungry, absolutely useless service. We had 4 first class tickets booked, they canceled 2 for "maintenance issue" and waited 24 hours to send a stupid email. We had to call to find out that you canceled all 4 and the only solution they offered was to book different tickets, pay £30 for a time change, pay the difference if the tickets are more expensive. But if the tickets were cheaper, they wouldn't refund a penny. I've never had a worse experience with trains than this. Buying a freaking horse would be cheaper and more reliable for traveling than using their service. Total disgrace!

This company needs to back to the government ASAP. I think this is the only hope left.

Trains cancelled on a daily basis where announces from the staff are not true.

On peak time providing a 4 carriage train only with no working toilets.

The yearly price reaching £10k + and the services is most likely one of the worst in the country.

Worst service no charging point inside the train and they fine unnecessarily sorry to say thsts y the loss of the train happened

I used to take the trains between Market Harborough and London St Pancras most weekends and eventually stopped as it became unbearably unreliable. I literally counted a failure rate if 30% over 40 trains, 3 of which were completely cancelled due to "more trains having faults than usual" and the other 9 trains were delayed. Not to mention these trains are terribly expensive (£60+ with a railcard every week is a killer). I now travel to Rugby to avoid EMR and take a taxi to my parent's home between the 2 towns. More reliable and cheaper, can't believe I didn't ditch EMR sooner

Dreadful company. Appalling delays. Some of the slowest trains in the UK. Incompetent and lazy staff. Poor communication. A train company thats not fit for purpose. Why the locals put up with it is beyond me.

I don't know why this company bothers to publish a timetable as they seem utterly unable to stick to any published times. Trains are constantly cancelled, delayed for whatever reason they can think up. Woeful.

Delayed but worst of all, as usual the train was filthy, old and the WiFi is basically non existent. Its really poor considering how much train tickets are. I tend to avoid EMR where I can but today after a few years of not using them I see NOTHING has changed. Please atleast clean/modernise your carriages.

what went wrong me & my partner went from peterborough to Loughborough for day out on the grand central railway as we got to leicester the problems started at leicester the train to loughborough was delyed and the train broke down we had to run to another platform to get another train to Loughborough i didnt find the staff on the platform very helpfull when trying to ask for help on the way back from loughborough train was cancelled half an hour due to a broken down train at bedford as we had to catch a connection to peterborough which we missed because of the cancelled train we had two get another train which was a two car dmu unit that was overcrowded there was no seats we had to stand to leciester again at leicester we asked a member of staff to which platform to peterborough she told us to wait until she dispatched train which was already gone i found her not to be very helpfull when asking for information and there was also another women staff member they way she spoke to us we both have learning difficulties i am very disappointed the way we were spoken too i remember when younger when all the trains were british rail there staff were friendly and helpfull

Without a doubt the worst train company!! Trains are often late or cancelled, trains are tired and dirty, you get better in a third world country… I’m am now an expert in their Delay Repay and at the extortionate prices they charge I claim every single penny owed

EMR is broken. As a regular business userb I can no longer rely on this essential service from my Home to London. Cancelled trains, delays, limited service, lack of seats etc along with ridiculous over pricing make this journey impossible. The MD and the board need to step aside and let someone with half a brain and competency manage.

Service is consistently unacceptable. The trains are regularly late, overcrowded, and uncomfortable, yet the fares remain ridiculously expensive. Passengers are being charged premium prices for a service that is unreliable and poorly managed.

Delays have become the norm rather than the exception, and there is often not enough space for people to sit or even stand comfortably. EMR needs to stop making excuses and start delivering the level of service passengers are paying for. At present, the cost simply does not match the quality, reliability, or overall experience.
And ro consider the amount of unhappy passengers, but its just another day at the office for EMR!! How much more?

Never caught train without major problems,going from Nottingham to reading change at Birmingham,last 2 times horrendous I am 72 and have disability card so had seat reserved on Birmingham to reading train but couldn't get down through train to my seat and chap stood with had same problem so stood near door for 40min couldn't even turn round and no way could ticket man or drinks man get through and very very hot every carridge full of people standing surely this can't be safe way to travel don't know how they get away with it

I commute daily to London and I honestly cannot remember the last time I got an EMR train that wasn't delayed or cancelled. For the huge cost of their service, the service is despicable. Everyday there seems to be signal issues, 4 carriages instead of 8, drivers haven't turned up, just to name a few of the excuses.

EMR is a shambles.

Awful service - I’ve been commuting for a few years now and previously would see occasional delays but it’s now most nights, makes it incredibly hard to get to and from work.

The ticket prices are incredibly high and there doesn’t appear to be any effort to improve the service