Chiltern Trains

Free wifi, cheap trains and a really luxurious experience. All is good, especially on the Mainline services, and much better than Virgin!

It’s the free wifi that gets @chilternrailway the extra star. Not that it always works so not ideal if you’re 100% relying on it but certainly handy for emails. Chiltern have some shiny new trains which are clean and comfortable. Going from Moor St or Snow Hill (or both) adds to the convenience with the back entrance of Snow Hill being a mere 5 minute brisk walk from home for me.
They also get you from Brum to London in 1 hour 39 minutes if you get on the right train! As with all train journeys, the further in advance you book, the less you pay too.
Both stations have the glorious Centenary Lounge which is a bonus but there is often a refreshments trolly on board, which I ‘m told they try and have on as many journeys as possible.
Chiltern offer a great service too. I know trains don’t run always (!) run on time on any network and it’s not alway the fault of the train company but as long as they keep us informed, eh.

Chiltern’s head office is actually based in Banbury, but they are well worth mentioning in a Birmingham context.
They provide trains that run from Snow Hill and Moor Street to London Marylebone, with various stops at nice places like Banbury, Bicester and Harrow-​on-​the-​Hill.
I personally find travelling into Marylebone a far more relaxing experience than the New Street journey into Euston. The prices always strike me as more reasonable too, with an off-​peak return fixed at £25.00.
Chiltern Trains are in much better condition than the Virgin trains and they provide FREE WIFI on routes out of Moor Street, which is pretty awesome. I get quite gushy when talking about Chiltern, but I honestly think that their standard class beats Virgin First Class.