Service Quality Report 2025/26

Information and Tickets

Provision of Travel information during the journey

Our trains have signage above the internal doors, giving information about the location and availability of onboard toilets.

Information regarding the next station will be announced onboard and through customer information screens.

In the case of delays there will be information announced at appropriate intervals and further information can be found on our website via Check My Journey.

Safety guideline notices can be found onboard.

How requests for information are handled at the station

Customers can request information from our ticket office or any member of staff at stations. Information about staffed stations and ticket office opening hours can be found on our station directory page. Information at unstaffed stations is available from customer information screens, station announcements and station Help points.

Information about station Help points can be found on our website on our station directory page.

How information about train schedules, tariffs and platforms is provided

Train schedules can be picked up from our stations in paper form. Train schedules and platforms are available on customer information screens and from the Live Train Times on our website and app.

Timetables can be accessed on our desktop or mobile website on our timetable page. Tariffs and ticket type information can be found from ticket offices or from going to Ticket Types on our website.

Ticket buying facilities

To see the availability of ticket offices and ticket vending machines for stations, please go to our station directory page. If you wish to buy an E-ticket or a ticket to load on to a Smartcard please visit our ticketing site available on desktop, tablet and mobile. Tickets can also be purchased on the Chiltern Railways App.

Availability of staff at the station for information provision and ticket sales

To see if a station is manned or not, please go to our stations pages and click on a station.

Information at unstaffed stations is available from customer information screens, station announcements and station Help points. Information about station Help points can be found on our website on our station directory page.

How information to disabled people and persons with reduced mobility is provided

Disabled people and persons with reduced mobility can find information and book assistance using our Accessible Travel Page.

Punctuality for services and general principles to cope with disruption to services

Delay of services

All delay information can be accessed on our Punctuality and Performance page, the page is updated every period.

.In the event of delays or cancellations to services a member of staff can help, information is also available via customer information screens, announcements, our website via JourneyCheck and social media. Information about Delay compensation can be found from our Contact us page.

Additional information about safety and security is available from the Safety and Security page on our website.

Disruption

In the event of delays or cancellations to services a member of staff can help, information is also available via customer information screens, announcements, our website via JourneyCheck and social media. Information about Delay compensation can be found on our Contact us page.

Additional information about safety and security is available from the Safety and Security page on our website.

Guidance if a passenger falls ill on board can be found on our Medical emergencies on trains and stations page.

Cancellation of services

Cancellation of services as part of all services in % per category of service

Punctuality and reliability of our services can be seen on our Punctuality and Performance page and all cancellations can be viewed on the bar graph at the bottom of our Punctuality and Performance page.

Cleanliness of station facilities

Periodic data for how we scored against our Service Quality Regime benchmark for 'Cleanliness and Graffiti' at our stations can be found by visiting our Service Quality Regime page.

Technical measurements for air quality

PeriodTonnes of CO2e per passenger kilometre
P10.0000389384
P20.0000394057
P30.0000366433
P40.0000381032
P50.0000390406
P60.000039316
P70.0000407313
P80.0000378067
P90.0000360655
P100.0000406332
P110.0000406332
P120.0000456581
P130.0000456581

Cleanliness of Rolling stock

PeriodTrain Cleanliness - Heavy cleans completed
P197.26%
P299.54%
P398.63%
P499.09%
P599.09%
P699.00%
P799.00%
P899.00%
P998.66%
P1096.99%
P11100.00%
P1298.64%
P1397.37%

Availability of toilets at stations

To see whether a station has toilet facilities, please go to our stations pages and click on a station.

Customer satisfaction survey

GroupMetric2025/2026
Journey Overall

Overall Satisfaction

Value for Money

Punctuality

83.5

53.61

86.36

Station

Station Overall

Information (at station) 

Personal Safety (at station)

Cleanliness (at station)

87.68

87.17

84.81

80.63

Train

Train Overall

Crowding

Personal Safety (on train)

Cleanliness (on train)

80.41

72.55

85.18

75.28

Complaint handling - Refunds and compensation

Procedure in place

Our process for handling complaints can be found on our Complaints Handling Procedure.

Number of complaints and outcome

The number of complaints and outcome recorded between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026 was 3615.

Categories for complaints

The below table shows our top 5 complaints received between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026.

Type of complaintFeedback
Sufficient room for all passengers to sit/standWe have started to introduce our new Mark5A trains, providing more capacity across our route. In line with this, we are developing our December 2026 timetable, which is expected to provide over 10,000 additional seats each weekday. 
The attitudes and helpfulness of the staff at stationsBetween now and August 2026 we will start rolling out various in person and online training courses to our front line staff including Suicide Prevention, Unwanted Sexual Behaviour, Zero Tolerance, Disability Awareness, Empathy Lab and culture and values. 
These will involve putting learning in to practice with an ‘inform, educate and imbed’ approach. This will then continue throughout the year and beyond. 
In addition to equipping our front line teams with the right knowledge and skills to provide the best possible level of customer service, Management will also undertake training to ensure they can fully support their staff in living our core values and behaviours. 
Where staff members have already completed the training or refresher training, we will continuously review staff performance and further induct staff to any training where we feel this may be required. 
Upkeep and repair of the trainTowards the start of the year, we had some seasonal complaints regarding air conditioning not A high-level access shed is being completed at Banbury depot, this will allow work to roof based systems such as air condition modules to take place at Banbury. Remote condition monitoring will be fitted to the Class 165 and 168 trains, and new air conditioning modules and higher performance radiators are being purchased for Class 168s.
We have also recently introduced new MK5 train sets to replace the older Mk3 (Silver) fleet, providing a newer and better on board experience and work continues to refurbish our Class 168 fleet. 
Punctuality/reliability (i.e. the train arriving/departing on time)Investment to improve performance is being made. The Mk5 train sets which are now in service replacing the Mk3 (silver) fleet, Class 168 refurbishment continues and modification to the Class 165 coolant system has been completed. A high-level access shed is being completed at Banbury depot, this will allow work to roof based systems such as air condition modules to take place at Banbury. Remote condition monitoring will be fitted to the Class 165 and 168 trains, and new air conditioning modules and higher performance radiators are being purchased for Class 168s. Network Rail are undertaking a Marylebone area reliability improvement plan with work recently taking place to improve track drainage, refurbish point work, and reballast track work. Strengthening of embankments between Bicester North and Haddenham is underway to remove speed restrictions and provide resilience. Signalling system power supplies are being refurbished, with reliability work also on track circuits and axle counters. On the Metropolitan Line, the signalling system continues to age but will be replaced in the forthcoming 4 Lines Modernisation Project, which will benefit our services on the London Marylebone to Aylesbury (via Amersham) route. We are continuing to recruit train drivers and train managers to maintain our staffing levels.  All of this is expected to provide better reliability of our services in terms of both delays and cancellations. 
The helpfulness and attitude of staff on trainBetween now and August 2026 we will start rolling out various in person and online training courses to our front line staff including Suicide Prevention, Unwanted Sexual Behaviour, Zero Tolerance, Disability Awareness, Empathy Lab and culture and values. 
These will involve putting learning in to practice with an ‘inform, educate and imbed’ approach. This will then continue throughout the year and beyond. 
In addition to equipping our front line teams with the right knowledge and skills to provide the best possible level of customer service, Management will also undertake training to ensure they can fully support their staff in living our core values and behaviours. 
Where staff members have already completed the training or refresher training, we will continuously review staff performance and further induct staff to any training where we feel this may be required.

Received complaints

The number of complaints received between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026 was 2916.

Processed complaints

The percentage of complaints processed between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026:

  • 89.13% within 10 working days.
  • 97.83% within 20 working days.

Average response times

The average response time between 1st April 2025 and 31st March 2026 was 6.30 days.

Possible improvement action undertaken

See the 'feedback' column under the 'Categories for complaints' section. We also publish our Annual Complaints Handling Continuous Improvement report here: Complaints | Chiltern Railways

Assistance provided to disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility

Assistance procedure in place

Out Assistance procedure and Accessible Travel Policy is available from our Accessible Travel Page.

Number of cases of assistance per category of service

YearRecorded Booked AssistsRecorded Unbooked Assists
2018/19151596684
2019/20159596850
2020/2136931938
2021/2270342926
2022/2375393928
2023/24131992745
2024/25227902618
2025/26206599814