What challenges did Network Rail face before AI implementation?

Digitize frontline safety reporting and manage governance at scale across thousands of apps and flows while reducing support burden. Replace paper-based reporting and improve data quality, response times, and support efficiency.

What was the impact of the AI solution?

The app reports over 250,000 close-call issues per year. The app is saving Network Rail an estimated $2.1 million a year. Time to raise infrastructure change requests fell from 2 hours to 15 minutes. Projects are being completed ten times faster. The AI support agent is expected to resolve more than 80% of tickets raised.

Source

MicrosoftScaled productionEvidence: Medium65/100

Network Rail: Copilot Studio AI support agent on Power Platform (safety reporting & governance)

Use case typeSafety monitoringUpdated Jun 18, 2026

Network Rail, the UK railway infrastructure operator, uses Microsoft Power Platform to digitize frontline processes and govern low-code development at enterprise scale. The company built an end-to-end safety close-call reporting solution used by all employees, with offline access through Dataverse, notifications through Power Automate, external reporting through Power Pages, and secure data sharing through a custom API. Network Rail also deployed a Copilot Studio AI support agent for maker support, used AI Builder OCR for meter readings, and used Plans in Power Apps and generative pages to accelerate solution creation.

Organization: Network Rail
Industry: Public Sector
Location: United Kingdom
Published: June 2026

Reported outcomes

250,000 issues/year

close-call issues reported per yearOther quantified impact

2.1 USD million/yearannual savings−87.5%time to raise infrastructure change requests+900%development speed+80%ticket resolution by AI agent

Strategic outcomes

Risk & complianceReplaced paper-based safety reporting with a digital end-to-end workflowRisk & complianceScaled governance for thousands of apps and flows with a lean support teamOther strategic outcomeEnabled self-service maker support and reduced central support burdenSpeed & agilityAccelerated solution creation using AI-assisted app design

Why do we believe this?Outcome claims, sources, and evidence checks

Normalized claim

Close-call issues reported per year: 250,000 issues/year increase

Microsoft Customer StoriesJun 18, 2026Customer storyExplicit claimMedium evidence strength

The app is used to report over 250,000 potential close call issues a year

Normalized claim

Annual savings: 2.1 USD million/year increase

Microsoft Customer StoriesJun 18, 2026Customer storyExplicit claimMedium evidence strength

the app is saving Network Rail an estimated $2.1 million a year

Normalized claim

Time to raise infrastructure change requests: 87.5% decrease

Microsoft Customer StoriesJun 18, 2026Customer storyInferred claimMedium evidence strength

has cut the time to raise a request from 2 hours per ticket to just 15 minutes

Normalized claim

Development speed: 900% increase

Microsoft Customer StoriesJun 18, 2026Customer storyExplicit claimMedium evidence strength

projects being completed ten times faster

Normalized claim

Ticket resolution by AI agent: 80% increase

Microsoft Customer StoriesJun 18, 2026Customer storyExplicit claimMedium evidence strength

The agent is expected to resolve more than 80% of all tickets raised

Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks

Customer: Network Rail
Provider: Microsoft
Maturity: Scaled Production
Linked source: Microsoft Customer Stories

Digitize frontline safety reporting and manage governance at scale across thousands of apps and flows while reducing support burden

Customer identity supportedSource describes one deploymentMaturity supported

Primary read

Use case focus

Showing 3 of 3

1Safety monitoring
2Workflow automation
3Customer service agent

Digitize frontline safety reporting and manage governance at scale across thousands of apps and flows while reducing support burden.
Replace paper-based reporting and improve data quality, response times, and support efficiency.

Implemented an end-to-end safety close-call reporting app used by all employees.
Integrated offline functionality via Dataverse, notifications via Power Automate, and external reporting via Power Pages.
Built a multi-tier Power Platform governance model with a Center of Excellence and segregated environments.
Deployed an AI support agent in Copilot Studio to resolve more than 80% of maker support tickets.
Used AI Builder OCR to automate meter readings.
Used Plans in Power Apps and generative pages to accelerate solution creation and prototype delivery.

Technologies

Microsoft Power Platform Power Apps Power Automate Dataverse Power Pages Copilot Studio AI Builder Plans in Power Apps Generative pages Intune Custom API Managed Environments

The app reports over 250,000 close-call issues per year.
The app is saving Network Rail an estimated $2.1 million a year.
Time to raise infrastructure change requests fell from 2 hours to 15 minutes.
Projects are being completed ten times faster.
The AI support agent is expected to resolve more than 80% of tickets raised.

Architecture

A Power Platform-based solution stack combines Power Apps for employee reporting, Dataverse for offline data storage and security, Power Automate for notifications and reminders, Power Pages for external contractor reporting, a custom API for secure data sharing, Managed Environments and a COE model for governance at scale, Copilot Studio for AI support and maker assistance, AI Builder OCR for meter-reading capture, and Intune packaging/wrap for native mobile distribution.

Sources & evidence1

Evidence: Medium65/100Evidence strength