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Refunds and compensation

Please note, ORR has no direct role in assisting with compensation claims for train delays.

Key facts: 

• if there is disruption and you don’t travel you can get a fee free refund from your retailer
• if you still travel and arrive late you can get compensation from your train company

Refunds if you do not travel

• If you purchase a ticket and then choose not to travel, you may be able to apply for a refund from your original retailer. Any refund may be subject to an admin fee of up to £10 and not all tickets are refundable. See ticket types below for more details
• If your train is cancelled, rescheduled or disrupted after you buy your ticket and as a result you are unable to travel you may apply for a refund from your original retailer. In these cases there is no admin fee

Compensation if you travel and are delayed

• If you are delayed in reaching your destination as a result of a delay or cancellation of a train service, you may be entitled to claim compensation from the train company that is responsible for the delay in completing your journey

Complaints

If you have a complaint about a train company please contact them first.

Please follow the tips below to complain about your train company:

1. Gather the relevant information: this could include specific journey details such as departure station, date, time and ticket type.
2. Contact the train company concerned: this may be done via their website, by email or by phone.
3. Finding a resolution: you should receive a response within 20 working days.
4. Not happy with the response? If you are not happy with the response, ask them to look at it again. The train company has a maximum of 40 working days to try to find a resolution.

Ombudsman

If the complaint cannot be resolved, the Rail Ombudsman is able to look at the complaint from an independent perspective. The Rail Ombudsman is a free service and any decision it makes is binding upon the train service provider.

For further details about the Rail Ombudsman and how it may be able to assist, please visit their website.

Learn more about our work for passengers. 

Enquiries about fares and penalty fares

We are not the regulator for fares and have no role in relation to penalty fares.

If you have concerns about the cost of your ticket, first contact the train company.

Some fares are regulated by government, which controls their price, while others are not, and train operators set those.

ORR reviewed how train companies tackle suspected fare evasion in 2025. Read the full report.

Railway accessibility: travel assistance

Travel assistance offered by different train companies may vary; however, they all must comply with standards of service that ORR sets.

Station car park charges

Prices at station car parks are not regulated. The decision to charge for car parking at a station is a commercial decision for the station operator, as it is for any other commercial car parking provider.

Reporting railway incidents

Contact us for serious and non-serious railway incidents. Please note this is only for members of the railway industry, not for the public. 

Health and safety enquiries

Complaints regarding health and safety can be sent to our Public Correspondence Team. They will then be forwarded to the relevant railway safety team.

If you are a railway company employee and have a health and safety complaint that has not been successful with your manager, with the unions or with CIRAS, you may contact us and we will forward your complaint to the appropriate railway safety team. Your confidentiality will be protected, if that is what you want.

You can find more information on ORR's whistleblowing process. 

Crowding on trains

Complaints about crowding on trains or stations should be made to the train or station operating company concerned in the first instance. The operator has a duty to respond to your complaint, explaining what went wrong and what they are doing to improve things.

If you are not satisfied with the response from the company, you can contact the Rail Ombudsman (telephone number: 0330 094 0362) to raise your complaint with them. If the complaint relates to TfL or Eurostar – complaints should be directed to the operator first and then to London Travel Watch.

We have a responsibility to make sure railway companies protect passengers from crowding health and safety risks.

We also oversee a number of obligations that train and station operators have to their customers, including making sure the railway is accessible for all.

As such, we take passenger concerns about crowding seriously. However, where the safety risks from crowding are being well-managed and train and station operators are meeting their responsibilities to customers, we don’t have the powers to require further action.

The Department for Transport (DfT) monitors rail passenger numbers and crowding across England and Wales.

For further information see our section on station and train crowding.

Please note, ORR has no direct role in dealing with individual disputes between customers and Network Rail. If your query relates to this, please contact Network Rail directly.

Network Rail is responsible for the railway network. This includes:

1. line-side maintenance including vegetation and fencing
2. track quality
3. environmental issues such as noise and vibration, pollution and graffiti
4. railway structures such as bridges, station buildings, overhead lines, tunnels and signalling
5. network maintenance, particularly engineering work and speed restrictions
6. property issues including changes to use of railway land

Information about who to contact if your train service is disrupted and the different types of train service disruption.

Unplanned disruption

You can use the National Rail Enquiries website to check for service disruption on the railway network and find alternative journeys.

If you have been delayed you may be entitled to compensation. Keep your ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support a claim.

Planned disruption (due to engineering works)

Network Rail needs to restrict access to the rail network to carry out many of its maintenance and renewals activities. This work is usually carried out at weekends, or during the early hours of the morning on weekdays, so disruption is kept to a minimum. In most cases the work is planned weeks in advance, and notices are displayed in stations giving passengers advance notification of the disruption.

If you are planning a journey, particularly at weekends, journey planners will identify where engineering work affects your service. You can check for future engineering work on the National Rail Enquiries website.

Complaints

If you have made a complaint to a train operator, and are dissatisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Rail Ombudsman. The Rail Ombudsman will only investigate your complaint after 40 working days or if you have received a "deadlock" letter from the train operator. You can also contact either Transport Focus or London TravelWatch for help.

We monitor the performance of National Highways and its management of the strategic road network - the motorways and main 'A' roads in England.

If you have a complaint please contact National Highways in the first instance.

For general enquiries on our role or to contact our staff, please email us.

Reporting a breach of competition law

Reports from consumers and businesses about anti-competitive behaviour or problems in markets are vital in helping the ORR to ensure that the rail market is competitive and fair, please read our guidance.

The media relations team is available to help journalists writing for the national, regional, trade and specialist media, and as the first point of contact for all breaking news and major developments, including interview requests.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about statistics please contact the Rail Statistics team

For queries about the website and to report issues such as broken links or problems with accessibility please email the Digital team.

We aim to provide an efficient and helpful service. However, if you are unhappy with the service you have received, please complain in writing to the Public Correspondence Team.

Your complaint will be acknowledged and forwarded to the relevant ORR director, who will investigate.

We aim to respond and investigate such complaints within 20 working days. If it becomes apparent that our investigation will take longer, we will inform you at the earliest opportunity.

If you remain dissatisfied, you may contact the Parliamentary Ombudsman to re-investigate the concerns you have raised.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman ensures that public bodies comply with the terms of their complaints handling procedure and ensures that customers receive the service to which they are entitled.

General enquiries

If you have an enquiry relating to our policies or functions, contact our Public Correspondence Team (PCT), using the details below. If you have a Freedom of Information request, view our FOI web page.

Please note: ORR has no direct role in dealing with individual disputes between customers and train operators or Network Rail. If your query relates to this, please look at our help for rail passengers section above.

We ensure that anyone who contacts us receives a prompt and full response to their comment or query. We aim to provide you with a full response within 20 working days.

Contact our Public Correspondence Team via:

email: contact.pct@orr.gov.uk

telephone: 020 7282 2000

post:

Public Correspondence Team
Office of Rail and Road
25 Cabot Square
London
E14 4QZ

A request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 should be made in writing to ORR's Public Correspondence Team.

The team aims to respond to requests for information within 20 working days of receipt.

Contact details:

email: contact.pct@orr.gov.uk

telephone: 020 7282 2000 (select Option 1)

post:

Public Correspondence Team
Office of Rail and Road
25 Cabot Square
London
E14 4QZ

Planning applications

ORR is a statutory consultee for planning applications ‘likely to affect the rail transport industry’.

Consultations directly related to railway buildings, land or infrastructure

If you consult us on an application that relates directly to railway buildings, land or infrastructure, we aim to respond to you with our comments within 20 working days of receipt.

Consultations not directly related to the railway

For planning application consultations not directly related to the railway, we ask that you set out in a covering email the specific questions you would like us to consider, providing references to relevant parts of the documentation.

If you do not do this we may not respond.

Local plans

ORR is a prescribed body in relation to the duty to cooperate set out in the Localism Act 2011.

Where consultation is required under Section 110 of the Localism Act 2011, we will only respond to specific questions set out in a covering email to us referencing relevant part(s) of the documentation.

We will nevertheless record the receipt of all consultations received.

All planning consultations

What we can consider

We can consider issues of railway safety, land disposal by Network Rail or other matters falling within ORR’s remit.

Including railway infrastructure managers in your consultation

If the application or plan relates to or is likely to impact the railway, you should consult Network Rail or the relevant railway infrastructure manager as part of the planning process.

Do you need to consult ORR

If there are clearly no implications for the railway you do not need to consult ORR and you should remove us from your mailing list for that project or plan.

Planning – ORR’s role as statutory consultee and prescribed body under duty to cooperate

This guidance relates to consultations on planning applications and local plans.

Please read the information in the table below before contacting us at contact.pct@orr.gov.uk.

In some cases, ORR may be approached by rail industry parties to appoint an arbitrator to resolve disputes related to HS2.

In the first instance, parties should contact the Institution of Civil Engineers for arbitration services.

For an informal discussion, parties considering arbitration should notify ORR.

We have office locations in: 

• Birmingham
• Bristol
• Glasgow
• London (head office)
• Manchester
• York