INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM)

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN (Print), ISSN (Online), ISSN (Print) ISSN (Online) Volume 5, Issue 8, August (2014), pp IAEME: Journal Impact Factor (2014): (Calculated by GISI) IJM I A E M E A STUDY ON PASSENGER S SATISFACTION TOWARDS RAILWAY SERVICES IN ERODE JUNCTION Dr. J. ANURADHA M.B.A., M.PHIL., PH.D Assistant Professor, Bharathiar University PG Extension Centre, Erode. ABSTRACT Railway transport is the dominated in Indian railway systems. Railways are important part of central transport. It is suitable for the all (upper, middle, lower) class peoples because fair is moderate comparing to other transport. Railways also provide services goods, vehicles transferred from one place to another place because peoples get more useful for as. Which is an evaluation as well as an emotion-based response to a service. This study conducted by convenient sampling. These studies only taken 7 services are based on the giving passenger s satisfaction towards trains. Keywords: Railway, Passengers, Satisfaction, Services. INTRODUCTION The enlargement of the service sector is an increase in urbanisation, privatisation and more demand for transitional and final consumer services. Services encompass mostly a set of economic activities like transport, trade, tourism, communication, banking, insurance, real estate, public administration and defence. The activities under the purview of the service sector are quite diverse. The infrastructures including trading, transportation and communication, financial, real estate and business services, community, social and personal services come within the strategy of the service industry. Transport is an important infrastructure in the economy of India. It assumes a greater role in developing countries since all the sectors of the development are closely dependent upon the existence of suitable transportation network. The whole structure of industry and commerce rests on the well laid foundation of transportation. Thus, an effective transport system is a pre-requisite for economic development of a country. The evident economic growth in India over the last two decades has increased demand for all transport services, particularly land transport through road and rail. The development of railways is one of the landmarks in the progress of human civilisation. 10

2 Indian Railways owned a total route length of 64,000 kilometers, 2,16,7 wagons, 39,263 coaches, 7,739 locomotives and runs about a total of,000 passenger trains and 7,000 freight trains daily. It carries nearly 23 million passengers every day and transports over 2.65 million tonnes of freight daily. The Head Quarters of the Indian Railways is in New Delhi. Indian Railways is controlled by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. At present, there are zones and 68 divisions in the Indian Railways. Indian Railways has identified model stations for the provision of upgraded passenger amenities. Some of the stations have been identified for provision of certain touch and feel items to transform them into modern stations in order to bring about visible improvements at stations PASSENGER S SATISFACTION Public transportation systems provide the most efficient means for moving large number of people, especially in density populated rural and urban centres in a vast country like India. For this reason, providing services characterized by high levels of quality is very important in order to customize the users of the services and attract new users. Key literature review on the passengers experiences and their satisfaction towards railway services offered in India railway. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Sonne (1999) study on customer satisfaction from consultant services identified various factors including perceived competence of the consultant and the attitude of consultants toward the customer during the service production process. Gleave, S. D., (2000) on railway passenger service quality valuation carried was out between December 1999 to June 2000, by the organization named Steer Davies Gleave of London. The report was prepared for Shadow Strategic Rail Authority to study the importance of rail passengers into improvement of the range and quality of facilities and service on stations and in trains. Kelley and Storey (2000)mention that changing customer preferences, improved competitive offerings, and emergence of new technologies often drive firms to introduce new services and improve existing service offerings as in the case of railways: the on-line ticket booking, enquiry, passenger status chek-up etc. New service offerings that are timely and responsive to user needs are also developed to remain competitive. Public transport service attributes influencing overall passengers satisfaction were investigated by Ngatia et al. (2010) A survey to public transport users was conducted in the city of Nairobi. The proposed structural equation model allowed elucidating the interrelationship between the observed variables and unobserved variables and their impact to the overall commuters satisfaction. Unobserved attributes such as Service Quality, Safety and Travel Cost were estimated. Level of satisfaction was found to be significantly influenced by these attributes. PranayPatil (20)the Indian Railways (IR) network connects areas across the length and breadth of the country. The passengers travelling represent the broad diversity of the country regional diversity, cultural diversity and financial diversity. The author comment in due to the vast diversity of the country, food cuisine changes as one travels from one region to another. The catering services providers have to take into account the diversity of the passengers and provide services that would be appreciable by all. However, there are many faults in the planning and managing of the system which leads to consumer dissatisfaction

3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM India is one of the largest countries in terms of its geographical size which requires efficient means for long-distance transportation. The public transport, being primary mode of transport remains as a powerful yardstick to measure the overall development of a nation. Among the various modes of transport, railways are one of the biggest modes of passenger transport in the world. The railway passenger services face long term competitive threats from airlines, luxury buses, personalised transport and improved public transport. Low cost airlines are giving stiff competition to upper class segments of the railway passenger service. Though there are competitions from various modes of transport, the railways has its own unique features and provides more services to the passengers. In order to compete with other modes of transport, it is inevitable for railways to accelerate the growth of passengers origination. This can be done by providing more quality services to them. Further, the opinion of the passengers towards the services provided by the Indian Railways will be quite different as they vary in socio-economic characteristics. It is essential for the Railway Authorities to know about the opinion of the passengers regarding the services offered to them in order to make future policies and provisions. Based upon the opinion of the passengers, their satisfaction level is decided. The Indian Railways can perform well only when the passengers are satisfied with the services they obtain. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. To measure the level of satisfaction of the passengers about the services offered by the Indian Railways. 2. To measure the passengers perceptions and satisfaction towards services offered by Railways 3. To offer suggestions to improve the satisfaction of passengers of the rail system. SAMPLING DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY This study is an empirical research based on survey method. The present study is confined to Erode junction. By using Convenient Sampling technique, the passengers have been selected from the Erode junction. COLLECTION OF DATA In the present study, both primary and secondary data are used. The present study is largely based on the primary data. Required primary data have been collected in the course of interview with the railway passengers through survey method with a pre-tested, well structured and non-disguised Interview Schedule. The required secondary data for the present study have been collected through Annual Reports of Ministry of Railways, White Paper on the Indian Railways published by Railway Ministry, Reports of Comptroller and Audit General of India, various issues of RBI Annual Bulletins, data from Central Statistical Organisation, Indian Railways Year Book of various years, records from Public Relations Officer of Salem Division, various journals, periodicals and through web sites. PERIOD OF THE STUDY The required primary data have been collected through a survey made on railway passengers from January 20 to June 20.

4 ANALYSIS CLASSIFICATION OF THE PASSENGERS BY SATISFACTION AND AWARENESS SCORE The scores of the 500 passengers are calculated. An individual satisfaction score is the mere summation of the scores secured from all the 35 statements. The score of the passengers range from 35 to 5. The average score is 105. Based on the average score, it is decided to group the sample passengers into two categories viz., Dissatisfied (whose score is less than 105) and Satisfied (whose score is in between 105 and 5). Details of the findings by satisfaction level are shown TABLE 1: CLASSIFICATION OF THE PASSENGERS BY SATISFACTION LEVEL S.NO Satisfaction Level No. of Passengers Total Mean S.D 1 Dissatisfied 419(83.8) Satisfied 81(16.2) Total 500(100.0) Table 1 reveals that 83.8% of the sample passengers are dissatisfied with the services offered by the Indian Railways. The mean score of the sample passengers is and standard deviation is The awareness score of the passengers range from 25 to 5. The average score is 75. Based on the average score, it is decided to group the sample passengers into two categories viz., Low level (whose score is less than 75) and High level (whose score is in between 75 and 5 CLASSIFICATION OF THE PASSENGERS BY AWARENESS SCORE On the basis of above quantification procedure, the sample passengers have been classified into low level and high level. Details are shown in Table 2. TABLE 2: CLASSIFICATION OF THE PASSENGERS BY AWARENESS SCORE S.No Awareness Level No. of Passengers Total Mean S.D 1 Low level 382 (76.4) High level 8 (23.6) Total 500 (100.0) Table 2 reveals that 76.4 % of the sample passengers are having low level of awareness about the services offered by the Indian Railways. The mean score of the sample passengers is and standard deviation is.47. Hence, it can be concluded that majority of the sample passengers are having low level of awareness about the services offered by the Indian Railways.

5 Table 3: RANK THE SERVICES FOR TRAVELLING PASSENGERS IN RAINS Particulars 1 (7) 2 (6) 3 (5) 4 (4) 5 (3) 6 (2) 7 (1) Total Mean Rank Tangible f Empathy f Assurance f Comfort f Frequency f Reliability f Speed f 32 (2) 14 (98) (9) (168) (84) (77) 18 (6) 23 (8) 18 (108) (66) 37 (222) (102) (72) (78) 22 (0) 23 (5) 28 (140) 26 () 10 (50) (55) (60) 22 (88) (68) 19 (76) (44) (96) 19 (76) (68) (33) 19 (57) 25 (75) 8 () 25 (75) 25 (75) (51) 14 9 (18) (26) 15 (30) (22) (48) 28 (56) 29 (58) () 26 (26) 15 (15) () 18 (18) () () (622) (495) (521) (623) (473) (435) (465) 4.78 II 3.80 IV 4.00 III 4.79 I 3.63 V 3.34 VII 3.57 VI As per the above table 5 shows that, majority of the respondents preferred Rank I as comfort, next most of the respondents preferred Rank II as tangibles, next most of the respondents preferred Rank III as assurance and followed by Empathy, Frequency, Speed, Reliability occupied Rank IV, V, VI, VII respectively. It is concluded that comfort service is fore most passengers travelling while travelled in train. SUGGESTIONS In the light of the findings of the study, the following suggestions have been made to increase the level of awareness of the railway passengers regarding the services offered to them. It is found that 76.4% of the sample passengers have low level of awareness about the services offered by the Indian Railways. Hence, it is suggested that the Ministry of Railways should take all possible steps to propagate the various services provided to the passengers by keeping adequate index boards and bulletin boards in all possible places like rest room, at the entrance, ticket counter, passengers lounge and platform. It may enable the passengers to know about the facilities provided by the Indian Railways. It is suggested that announcements could be made quite often regarding the services provided by the Indian Railways. By doing so, the level of awareness of the passengers about the services can be improved to the fullest extent. It is suggested that the Ministry of Railways must create awareness among the passengers regarding various services offered to them in various classes of travel by printing them on their ticket. It will enable the passengers to choose their class of travel based on the amenities available to them and their level of expenditure.

6 Further, it is also suggested that awareness has to be created among the passengers regarding the procedures involved in the mode of ticket reservation either at station counter or through agent or internet. It will facilitate the passengers to reserve their tickets easily in advance to their travel. The public may be created awareness through rallies by voluntary organisations or by issuing pamphlets and through placards regarding the safety measures to be adopted while travelling in train as well as in the railway track. This will enable to avoid unnecessary accidents in future. CONCLUSION It is well known that offering better services is essential for the growth of the Indian Railways. It is also equally important to make the passengers aware of the services. Still, Indian Railways has to take more possible steps to enhance the level of awareness of the passengers. On the basis of the findings of the present study, some constructive and viable suggestions have been made. If the suggestive measurements have been considered earnestly by the Indian Railways and the Policy Makers, it is hope that the Indian Railways will shine and bring grandeur to our country in the near future REFERENCE 1. Rust, R.T., A. J. Zahorik, T. L. Keiningham (1995); Return on quality (ROQ): Making service quality financially accountable. J. Marketing 58 (2), pp: Gleave, S. D (2000); Rail Passenger Quality of Service Valuation, London. 3. Agarwal, R. (2008); Public Transportation and Customer Satisfaction. Global Business Review 9(2), pp: Vishnuvarthan S. and Dr. A. Selvaraj (20); Railway Passengers Satisfaction: A Study In Salem Division of Southern Railway, International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences ISSN: , December. 5. Railway Efficiency An Overview and a Look at Opportunities for Improvement Discussion Paper No. 20- Arne BECK / Heiner BENTE / Martin SCHILLING. 6. Reena (Ramneek Kaur) and Dr. Tejinder Sharma, Assessment of Service Quality- A Conceptual Framework, International Journal of Marketing & Human Resource Management (IJMHRM), Volume 5, Issue 1, 2014, pp , ISSN Print: , ISSN Online: X. 7. A.Elgin and Dr.V.R.Nedunchezhian, An Empirical Investigation on Service Quality & Passengers Perception A Gap Analysis, International Journal of Management (IJM), Volume 2, Issue 2, 20, pp , ISSN Print: , ISSN Online: