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Commuting is rarely glamorous. There’s nothing exciting about getting up early to do the same jam-packed train journey that you do every single weekday, and then repeating the whole thing at 5pm to get home. It’s an arduous (somehow always sweaty) task – but what if it didn’t need to be that way?
Chiltern Railways, which operates services between London and Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and the West Midlands, has announced the return of first class onboard its trains. Chiltern is often taken by commuters heading to and from the capital, but first class hasn’t been offered in over 10 years because it was thought that commuters were less likely to splurge on a luxurious experience than those on longer journeys.
This comes as Chiltern prepares to reveal its new, upgraded fleet, which will offer all passengers faster wifi, USB charging ports, air con, and fully accessible toilets. Here’s a sneak peek at those carriages.
Some of the current Chiltern Railways trains are nearly 50 years old, so this will come as a welcome change to the many people who use these trains daily – regardless of whether or not they choose to upgrade their tickets.
Unlike other first class services, there won’t be any food or drink offered to passengers as part of the shift. According to the railway company, this is because it ‘[doesn’t] believe that the market warrants a fully catered offering at this point in time’, according to Metro.
A representative for Chiltern told the Independent that, despite some seats now being reserved for first class passengers, ‘Chiltern will be renting more trains than it has today, which means we can operate additional services from the end of 2026 to help meet rising demand’. This means that there will be more seats available for everyone.
Not everyone is happy about the move, though. Some think separating train carriages, particularly shorter, commuter routes like this, is a relic of a time gone by. Christian Wolmar, a rail historian, told the Independent: ‘That era has gone. I think for those sort of services, there are very few people who would really want to pay for a premium.’
The new fleet is set to come into service sometime in 2026.
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