Rail company sparks outrage over ‘profiteering’ charge for water in London station: ‘Total disgrace’

Chiltern Railways have been criticised for implementing a 25p charge for water at a new fountain at London’s Marylebone station. 

The train operating company announced the new water refill station in partnership with supplier Ape2o on Saturday (10 August), sparking anger from social media users, who described the charge as “profiteering” and called for the rail company to be nationalised. 

“So you are confirming that the company is intending to profiteer out of its customers for the privilege of obtaining tap water,” one Twitter user replied to the railway company, with another describing the charge as a “total disgrace”.

• Will Labour’s plan to renationalise rail really work? And will it make train tickets cheaper?
• Is it time to nationalise the energy companies, railways and water suppliers?

Many other social media users pointed out that several other London stations provide free tap water – Refill London has developed 5,000 free water refill stations across the capital. 

Chiltern Railways confirmed on social media that 10% of the profits from the tap water fountain will be donated to charity. The company that supplies the water stations claims the donations go towards “marine and freshwater conservation and clean-ups”. 

We Own It, a campaign group calling for services like water, railways and energy to be brought into public ownership, criticised asking people to pay for water on “one of the hottest days of the year so far”, referring to the heatwave that gripped London and much of the UK on Monday (12 August). 

“This shows what we already know about the privatisation of the railway, it’s profit-oriented rather than people-focused,” a spokesperson for the group told the Big Issue.

“Under the privatisation of our railway, the question private companies ask is, ‘How can we make the most profits?’ Under public ownership, those in charge of our railway are more likely to ask, ‘How do we make the railway conducive to the needs of our communities?’

“In a people-focused railway system under public ownership, we would be talking about rolling out water fountains accessed freely across train stations, rather than asking people to pay for water on one of the hottest days of the year so far.”

We Own It welcomed Labour’s election promise to renationalise the UK’s railways, however the group said the move is “only the first step of what needs to be done to fix our railway”.

“For example, the government needs to also bring the rolling stock, the trains themselves, into public ownership,” the spokesperson said.

“The private rolling stock companies paid out £410m in dividends last year. When we privatised our railway system, the average train in our railway system was 16 years old, now the average train in our system is 20 years old. Little wonder trains break down and arrive late across the country daily.

“It is time to start reinvesting those profits into new, better and more reliable trains, instead of being pocketed by a few private shareholders.”

The group added: “It is also important that public ownership of our railway means passengers get a real voice on the decision-making boards that will govern our railway under public ownership.”

A Chiltern Railways spokesperson told the Big Issue: “The new water machine was installed at London Marylebone station to reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles. 

“Offering ultra-filtered still and sparkling water, the machine was set up in June 2024 by a supplier that has provided the same facility at other stations in the UK.

“There have been a total of 2,000 refills at the machine since it was installed and we are reviewing customer feedback.”

According to Ape2o, similar fountains with charges can be found across London, including several train stations.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. Big Issue exists to give homeless and marginalised people the opportunity to earn an income. To support our work buy a copy of the magazine or get the app from the App Store or Google Play.