Northern Trains will make travel more accessible with Agentforce's help.

A 45% rise in assistance services pushed Northern Trains to rethink accessible rail service.

Northern Trains runs one of the U.K.’s most complex rail networks — over 550 destinations and 2,500 daily services, totaling 100 million journeys a year. But for Northern, it’s about more than just operational efficiency. “A key driver for customer satisfaction is a reliable, seamless, friction-free journey,” said Tracy Barr, head of Customer Experience.

As demand for accessible services surged — fueled by increased promotion of industry services such as the passenger assistance booking app — Northern faced a 45% increase in assistance requests. These range from deploying ramps when requested, providing sighted guidance or anything else a customer may request as support. 

Like many train operators, Northern’s frontline staff is instrumental in meeting this growing demand — something that can be harder in smaller or remote stations with limited coverage. Infrastructure gaps, like unavailable lifts or step-free routes, can make service delivery even more challenging. Often, customers who are disabled need to make ad-hoc travel plans close to their intended departure time. However, the commonly used methods for booking assistance, phone or email, are too slow to deliver an optimal customer experience. 

“We want to make sure we get the right information, at the right time, through the channel of choice that the customer wants,” said Tracy Barr, Head of Customer Experience. “That really is our focus: to put customers at the heart across our business.”

It was time to evolve. With the right technology, Northern saw an opportunity to deliver faster, more dependable, and inclusive support for all.

Agentforce will help Northern Trains give instant station data and accessible travel support.

Agentforce, the agentic layer of the Salesforce Platform, will support the work Northern is doing to make train travel more accessible for all — with always-on, intelligent support. Connected through WhatsApp through an API connection to Salesforce and using digital engagement tools in Service Cloud, Agentforce will provide real-time answers, station info, and support for passengers with disabilities — all through natural conversation.

Agentforce pulls unstructured data from knowledge articles via the Data Cloud Vector Database and is also grounded in real-time station data from Darwin — the official source of live train information for the Great Britain rail industry — accessed via API to deliver instant, accurate responses.

If a customer requests passenger assistance, Agentforce will gather the essential travel details, such as origin and destination stations and intended travel times. Using this information, Agentforce will automatically create a Service Cloud case and route it to the contact center — simplifying the process for both customers and staff.

“With humans and AI agents supported by Agentforce, we can handle more customer contacts at once and a lot more in a day than we could with just three or four customer relations advisors on the phone. That starts to give customers a lot more confidence,” said Barr. 

That confidence is already being felt by passengers: “Being a wheelchair user, Agentforce and your staff helped me have a stress-free journey both ways,” said a Northern Customer.

Northern expects Agentforce to handle around 5,000 conversations and assistance requests annually. Northern also hopes to reduce failed assists and deliver a +13 NPS score. And because Agentforce will learn from every interaction, its self-help service is expected to continuously improve.

Data Cloud helps Northern tailor service by unifying real-time insights across 1.2 million records.

With 90% of customers traveling anonymously, understanding who they are — and how to serve them better — was nearly impossible. That changed when Northern migrated 1.2 million customer records to Data Cloud in just five months, with help from Salesforce Professional Services.

Now, Northern unifies data from Trainline and GoldSTAR ticket sales, 8x8 telephony logs, and Qualtrics marketing data into a real-time, single source of truth in Data Cloud. With this 360-degree view of customers, Northern is powering a shift from reactive service to proactive, personalized support.

Data Cloud segmentation across eight customer personas, from students to family travelers, now guides service planning and messaging. For example, if frequent commuters experience delays on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Northern can trigger targeted WhatsApp alerts, offer quick rebooking, or share personalized compensation — all in the right tone and channel.

Service reps benefit too. With the power of Data Cloud working behind the scenes in Service Cloud, reps get real-time passenger data that helps them to deliver faster, more personalized support across 500,000 inquiries a year. And with train service codes pulled in automatically from Darwin, agents save about two minutes per case.

“Our connected Salesforce data and insights really allow us to drive productivity and improve our efficiency in delivery,” said Barr. “Productivity is up, and our time to train new members of staff has actually come down.”

Northern’s goal is simple: Deliver the same high-quality experience across every channel — whether that’s their app, their website, or WhatsApp. Data Cloud is what makes that consistency possible.

Salesforce gives Northern a powerful edge by connecting all parts of the business through one deeply unified platform. With Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud, and Tableau all working together, Northern brings customer service, marketing, ticketing, and analytics into a single system. That means no more separated data, no more guesswork, and no more missed opportunities to serve passengers better — whether it’s resolving an issue faster or sending the right message at the right time.

Northern is using Salesforce to better understand who’s riding their trains and what those passengers need. With Data Cloud and Tableau, the team can track travel habits, build detailed customer personas, and tailor services to different types of customers — like families planning weekend trips or students looking for value. These insights help Northern make smarter decisions about pricing, routes, and service improvements.

Service Cloud gives agents the full picture when helping customers — including ticket history, service interactions, and even real-time train updates. Tasks that used to take minutes, like escalating a case or finding missing information, now happen in seconds thanks to automated workflows. And with Marketing Cloud, Northern can send personalized updates during service changes, helping customers stay informed and confident during their journeys.

Because it all runs on one platform, Northern can deliver the same high-quality experience across every channel — from the website and app to WhatsApp and the platform itself. That consistency is especially important during disruptions, when clear, timely communication makes all the difference.

“When you bridge the gap between fragmented datasets, that’s when the magic happens. We can now share the right customer information at the right time with the right team,” said Barr.

At its core, Northern’s mission is about more than running trains. It’s about connecting communities, supporting the region, and doing it sustainably and with accessibility in mind. With Salesforce, Northern is building a rail service that puts people first — and keeps them moving forward.