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1 ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH Online Open Access publishing platform for Management Research Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing association Research Article ISSN Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Passengers Expectations of Indian Railway Passengers Services by applying RAILQUAL Devi Prasad.M 1, Raja Shekhar.B 2 1 School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India 2 School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India gmail.com ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to develop and empirically test RAILQUAL instrument to evaluate passenger rail service quality. This article analyzes the relationship between the importance of attributes for service quality and tolerance zone between the desired and the minimum levels for passengers expectations. This article combines the literatures of service quality and rail transport quality to develop the conceptual framework and to develop Railqual. The instrument was tested on a passenger line in South Central Railway, India. Valid responses to 307 questionnaires were statistically analyzed.there are not many published studies to confirm or compare the results of the Railway Passengers service quality. The rail transport dimensions require further development and testing, particularly since the sample was drawn from single passenger line in South Central Railway, India. More development and empirical testing are required to refine this measure.based on the Railqual dimensions and Railqual attributes the practical use of Zone of tolerance for identifying areas of quality shortfall and managing quality are illustrated in this paper. The empirical study, conducted with 307 railway passengers, confirms that, as the importance of attributes increases, the tolerance zone gets closer and higher. Service quality and Zones of tolerance were identified for each dimension and attribute.researchers in Transport Sector, Railway passengers, Railway Administration. Keywords: Service quality, Indian Railways, Railqual, Zone of tolerance. 1. Introduction Delivering superior quality of service to passengers is important for Railways to survive in the competition from low cost airlines and super luxury bus services. Improved service quality influences the Railways competitive advantage and it gives market share and ultimately profitability. Service quality is generally recognized as critical factor in an organization endeavor s to differentiate itself from its competitors. Research has shown that good service quality leads to the retention of existing customers and attraction of new customers, an enhanced corporate image and ultimately enhanced profitability. (Cronin et al., 2000; Berry et al., 1989). The SERVQUAL scale which consists of 22 items representing five dimensions, was originally applied in five service settings: retail banking,credit card services, repair and maintenance of electrical appliances, long distance telephone services and title brokerage. Subsequently the scale ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 387

2 has been used to measure service quality in a vide variety of service environment. ( Riadh Lakhari,2009 Service Quality has been described as a form of attitude, related but not equivalent to satisfaction which results from comparison of expectations with performance ( Parasuraman et al 1988). Service Quality involves a comparison of expectations with performance. It is a measure of how well the service level delivered matches customer expectations on a consistent basis. Service quality has been conceptualized as a function of consumer expectations towards the service situation and process, and of the output quality they perceived themselves to have received. In the hand book of measuring customer satisfaction and service quality ( Transportation Research Board,1999), Five gaps have been identified, Consumer expectation management perception gap, Management perception Service quality specification gap, Service Quality Specification Service delivery gap, Service delivery External communication gap and Expected Service Perceived Gap, which also indicate the sequence of quality management from monitoring to remedial actions and finally assessment.passenger Satisfaction in the field of Public Transportation is related to the Perceived discrepancy between actual and ideal levels of service. Therefore both perceptions and expectations of service are being measured on the other hand the measurement and understanding of passenger satisfaction with services incorporates both customer provider issues (Oliver,1997), Parasuraman et al 1985,Rust and Oliver 1997).However, while the SERVQUAL instrument has been widely used, it has been subjected to certain criticisms as well. It has been suggested that for some services the SERVQUAL instrument needs considerable adaptation (Dabholkar et al., 1996) and that items used to measure service quality should reflect the specific service setting under investigation, and that it is necessary in this regard to modify some of the items and add or delete items as required ( Carman,1990). 2. Theoretical Background The zone of tolerance is usually defined as the range of customer perceptions of a service between desired and minimum acceptable standards (Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman, 1993). In essence it is the range of service performance that a customer considers satisfactory. Performance below the zone is seen as dissatisfying and performance above the zone is seen as delighting. The importance of this zone of tolerance is that customers may accept variation within a range of performance, and any increase or decrease in performance within this area will only have a marginal effect on perceptions. Only when performance moves outside this range will it have any real effect on perceived service quality. If a customer's zone of tolerance is narrow, then he or she may be highly sensitive to the service experience, with a greater likelihood of dissatisfying or delighting outcomes. Conversely, if a customer has a wide zone of tolerance, then he or she may be much less sensitive to the service experience, thus increasing the likelihood of a satisfactory or acceptable outcome. The width of the zone of tolerance may vary from customer to customer and from situation to situation. A refinement of the Gaps Model of service quality is the norms based zone of tolerance model (figure 1), introduced by Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman (1993) and further refined by Parasuraman,Zeithaml, and Berry (1994). ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 388

3 The zone of tolerance (ZOT) is defined as the difference between desired service and the level of service considered adequate (Zeithaml et al 1993, pg. 6). As may be noted in this definition, the ZOT model recognizes that customers enter service encounters with different expectation levels. Desired service is the level of service the customer hopes to receive a blend of what the customer believes can be and should be (Zeithaml et al 1993, pg. 6). On the other hand, adequate service is the level of service the customer will accept (Zeithaml et al 1993, pg. 6). The difference between these two expectation standards is the zone of tolerance. The ZOT model proposes that satisfaction will result as long as customer perceptions of service performance fall in the zone. Zeithaml and her colleagues (1993) proposed that the ZOT varies across customers and can expand/contract with the same customer. They also proposed that adequate service expectations are subject to change, while desired service expectations are relatively enduring.another theoretical article regarding the ZOT was offered by Johnston (1995). Specifically, he theoretically examined the relationship between involvement and the ZOT, as well as the impact of various service performance outcomes upon the ZOT. In relation to the impact of involvement, he proposed that the width of the ZOT is inversely proportional to the degree of involvement (Johnston 1995, pg. 49). In other words, high involvement generates a narrower ZOT, while low involvement generates a wider ZOT. Similar to Zeithaml et al s (1993) contention, he also proposed that (1) performance within the ZOT may go unnoticed by the customer, (2) performance below the customer s adequate expectations level (below the ZOT) will generate dissatisfaction, and (3) performance above the customer s desired expectations level (above the ZOT) will generate delight, or what Zeithaml et al (1993) termed a customer franchise. It is appropriate to note that disagreement exists in the services marketing literature as to whether perceived service quality should be measured using a performance based framework or with a standards (or norms) based framework. Teas and DeCarlo (2004, pg. 272) noted that performance based frameworks specify perceived performance, without any comparative referents, as the perceived quality concept, while standards based frameworks specify a relative or comparative performance conceptualization of perceived quality. In other words, does a direct measure of perceived service quality offer greater explanatory power than a normsbased comparative measure? Parasuraman et al (1994) argued that norms based models (such as the ZOT) would be more useful because of the measurement of more precise information about customer perceptions across the multiple expectations levels. In their study of 107 undergraduate students perceptions of a university s Student Services Center, Teas and DeCarlo (2004) found that performance based models offered more explanatory power than the ZOT regarding the relationship between perceived quality and purchase intentions. However, they also found that the ZOT (as the representative norms based model) offered superior performance (relative to performance based models) when evaluating the linkage between perceived quality and satisfaction. Hence, they provided support for the ZOT as a useful managerial and research tool for better understanding how customer perceptions of quality impact satisfaction with the service. ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 389

4 dimensions service levels perceived service quality assurance empathy expected service desired service perceived service superiority reliability responsiveness tangibles zone of tolerance adequate service + + perceived service adequacy comfort perceived service Figure 1: Conceptual framework for measuring railway passenger service quality Source: adapted from Parasuraman et al.(1994a) Additional support for the ZOT model has been provided by Walker and Baker (2000). These authors proposed that the width of the ZOT varies for essential versus less essential service quality components. They also proposed that the ZOT width would be influenced by the degree of customer experience with the service, as well as the number of competitive alternatives the customers perceived. They surveyed 205 college students regarding health club membership. It was found that the width of the ZOT does indeed varying dependent upon the service quality dimension in question. Specifically, Walker and Baker (2000) found that the ZOT was narrower for the assurance and reliability dimensions than for the empathy, responsiveness, and tangible dimensions of service quality. In relation to customer experience levels, it was found that no significant differences exist between experienced and non experienced customers on desired service level expectations. However, the ZOT is narrower for experienced customers because they have increasingly demanding adequate expectations (Walker and Baker 2000, pg. 424). Additionally, these authors found no support for the Zeithaml et al (1993) proposition that the presence of readily available provider alternatives would narrow the ZOT. Walker and Baker (2000) attributed this finding to the stability of the desired expectations standard. Additionally, Voss, Parasuraman, and Grewal (1998) argued that there are instances when a standards based framework does not provide sufficient explanatory power.they found that the more customers were price tolerant, the less satisfied they were with a high price/low quality offering. On the other hand, for those customers who were initially less price tolerant, satisfaction was greater for the low price/high quality offering. ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 390

5 Yet, in those instances where levels of delivered performance matched the price level (lowprice/low quality; high price/high quality), perceived performance was compared against prior expectations to determine satisfaction levelsin summary, the Zone of Tolerance (ZOT) model is a standards based framework for understanding customer perceptions of service quality and satisfaction with the service. While the ZOT is inappropriate in some instances, such as when the primary purpose is to explain the variance in some dependent construct, it is considered appropriate when the primary purpose is to diagnose accurately service shortfalls (Zeithaml et al 1996, pg. 40). The model holds that service customers has two basic types of prepurchase expectations; desired and adequate. These expectations define the boundary of the zone of tolerance. As long as perceived performance falls within the zone, the result is customer satisfaction. Performance below the zone generates dissatisfaction, while high performance that exceeds the customers desired expectations generates delight, or a customer franchise. 3. Significance of the Study 3.1 Need to change for Indian Railways The organizational justification for this study comes from the compelling need to change for the Indian Railways made time and again (Sondhi n.d.). It needs to change in order to survive. In this case, the old systems remain untouched and they continue to generate the same behaviors. However, we believe that it is possible to bring about a change in such a manner and in such areas of Indian Railways which is acceptable to different stakeholders and therefore implementable. In the context of Indian Railways, action choices emanating from changes in such factors as ownership and structure have the risk of antagonizing the three important stake holders the government, the railway personnel and even the customers who would like to see the Indian Railways more as a not for profit organization. Thus it can make them withdraw from or oppose the proposed change. However a change in such factors as system, culture, leadership and industrial relations are not necessarily threatening to them and a beginning can be made to initiate change in these areas. Thus the intent of this research is to use Service Quality route as the over arching method for bringing about change in the Indian Railways(IR). 3.2 Loss of Market Share in Passenger Business IR provides the most energy efficient and economical mode of transportation in India. In spite of this, IR lost its market share in Freight and Passenger segment due to lack of customer responsiveness and poor public perception.(adb report). Passenger service constitutes 60% of the transport output but contribute only 32% of the revenue. The ratio of average passenger fares per passenger kilometer (pkm) to average freight tariffs per net ton (ntkm) is very low in IR compared with other countries. The ratio of 0.3 for India compares with 1.2 in China, 2.2 in Japan, 0.7 in Thailand and 0.5 in Bangladesh. In passenger segment IR share is 68% in the year 1951 to roads 32% where as it is a mere 13% share in a total of 87% for Roadways now. While there are a number of studies of rail passenger service quality ( e.g.disney,1998,1999;hanna and Drea,1998;Drea and Hanna,2000;Tripp and Drea,(2002),there is very little published literature that reports on the use of SERVQUAL in the assessment of railway passenger service quality. ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 391

6 4. Conceptual Model and Research Hypothesis The tolerance zone can be established by the passengers expectations for a determined service attributes, even if it is not delivered.when the service rendered effectively occurs, he passenger evaluates the level of service received/perceived, through his or her own perceptions. The present construct being defined proposes to evaluate tow affirmations of Zeithaml and Bitner (2003). In the first, passengers affirm a narrower zone of tolerance for those attributes that they find more important. That is to say, the more important the attribute to the passenger, he closer the limits of Service Desired(SD)or Minimum Service ( SM) will be. Second, the passengers affirm higher limits of tolerance for more important attributes. Thus, the more important the attribute, the closer SD and SM will be to the higher limit of evaluation scale used. Figure 2 illustrates these percepts evaluated in this study, which can be established to the following hypothesis. H1: Attributes that are more important to passengers have a narrower zone of tolerance. H2: Attributes that are more important to passengers have limits of expectations closer to the maximum of the scale. 5. Methodology Figure 2: Relation between importance and expectations 5.1 The Selection and Definition of Variables The study aims at evaluating the railway passenger s service quality by referring to Zeithmal and others SERVQUAL model, which is a universal model and contains the common elements. However, specifically regarding to railway passenger service, it should be adjusted accordingly. Through the interviews with some passengers, railway officers we established 34 items about passenger s evaluation of railway passengers service quality based on the six service elements. Three new transport dimension comfort is added to the original five SERVQUAL dimensions (i.e. assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness and tangibles). ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 392

7 5.2 Attributes Generated for the Study Dimensions Numbers Attributes Assurance 7 Empathy 5 Reliability 5 Responsiveness 3 Tangibles 9 Table 1: Attributes generated for the study Q1.Courtesy of staff on train Q2. Being informed if there are delays Q3.Personal safety at stations. Q4.Personal safety on train Q5.Staff at ticket office Q6.Staff having knowledge to answer your questions. Q7.Providing you with information about any changers in iternary Q8. Dealing with you in caring fashion when you make inquiries Q9.Understanding your needs when you make inquiries Q10. Having your best interest at heart. Q11 Availability of coach attendant/helper in the train Q12. Availability of Carriers (Coolie and trolley) Q13. Maintaining the frequency of trains as scheduled Q14. Punctuality of train services. Q15.Depandability in handling your service problems Q16. Updated information about status of train during travel Q17 Complaint Handling System Q18.Willingness to help you Q19.Promt service Q20. Availability of staff in handling requests Q21. Clarity of information given in timetables Q22.Clarity of information given at stations Q23.Cleanliness of the station Q24.Modern appearance of Station Q25. Cleanliness of train Q26.Overall appearance of the train Q27. A neat professional staff Q28. Food facility in the train Q29. Medical facility in the train Comfort 5 Q30 Availability of seating in train Q31 Comfortable seats in the train Q32 Comfortable temperature in the train Q33. Smoothness of ride of the train Q34. Traveling time of the train ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 393

8 5.3 Measuring the Importance of Expectations On the one hand, the degree of importance of the attributes can be found from the accurate measurement as expressed by the user. The tolerance Zone height( Alt Z),with relative position in relation to the expectation scale, can be calculated by its average point, i.e. the average between the values of desired service (SD) and the minimum service(sm) for each attribute. On the other hand, the width of the tolerance zone (Larg Z) of an attribute corresponds to the difference between the level of desired service and level of minimum service. Algebraically, for a sample size n, the average values are determined by : 5.4 Sampling and Data Collection One passenger rail line between Secunderabad to Vijayawada was surveyed for the purposes of this research. Random sampling from the passengers on one line is sufficient to determine the underlying factors that will affect their perceptions of passenger services. The population studied in this research was all passengers who traveled by Inter City express between Secunderabad to Vijayawada during the surveyed period.a total of 500 questionnaires were distributed. The number of returned questionnaires was 362.Among 362 returns,307 ( percent) of them were usable. The non usable questionnaires were mainly due to the presence of missing items, many response errors and passengers who don t find time to complete the questionnaire. The number of non usable questionnaire was 55 ( percent). 5.5 Questionnaire The objective of this research required that the perceptions of passengers regarding the importance of attributes and their expectations in relation to levels of desired service and the minimum acceptable service were found. The Passengers were given a questionnaire with 34 attributes to give their perceptions and the responses were marked in a Likert scale of 7 points, varying from one(not important) to seven ( very important), in the similar manner each of 34 attributes were given again to passengers to reveal their expectations about the level of quality they would like to receive ( desired level) and minimum level of quality that would be acceptable ( minimum level acceptable).the expectations were also found and measured by a Likert scale of 7 points,varying from one(worse) to seven (excellent). ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 394

9 Table 2: Distribution of the respondents by sex, age, income and occupation Sex Age Family Income Main occupation Male 59.7% Less than % Up to % Student 11.40% Rs10 K Female 41.3 % From % Rs10K to Rs20 K 18.24% Business 23.13% From % Rs 20 K to 50 K 37.14% Employee 48.86% More than % Rs 50 K 27.36% House 16.61% 60 above wife Total 100 % Total 100% Total 100% Total 100% 6 Analysis and Results 6.1 The Perception of the Importance of Attributes The passengers indicated their perceptions relative to the importance of the attributes presented in Table 1, attributing a note of one (not important) to seven (very important) to each one, in a sequential and independent manner. The nominal measures varied from 4.98 ( staff having knowledge to answer your questions) to 6.77 ( punctuality of the train services).a preliminary analysis permitted the assessment of what the passengers considered which attributes presented were of average importance to very important. Table 3 presents the median values obtained in the degree of importance of first five and last five attributed. 6 2.Expectation Tolerance Zones The same attributes that received an evaluation of importance were presented t the passengers so that they express their expectations in relation to the levels of service desired and the minimum acceptable. Each attribute was associated to two equal scales from 7 points varying from one (the worst) to seven (excellent). In the first, the passenger indicated the level of the service desired (that he or she should like to receive) and the second, the minimum acceptable level of service. For each attribute, using the algebraic expressions presented in section 5C, the width of the tolerance zone (large Z) and its height (Alt Z) were calculated. The width of tolerance zone varied from 1.01(train punctuality) to 2.21 (understanding your needs when you make enquiries). On the other hand, the height of the tolerance zone taken by the position of the median point varied from the position of median point varied in minimum from 4.87 ( staff at ticket office) to the maximum value of 5.98 ( train punctuality). Table 4 and 5 present the attributes with the greatest ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 395

10 Attribute Table 3: Degree of importance of attributes from high to low Measure Ran Attribute Measur ment k ement Ra nk Train punctuality Comfortable temperature in train Personal safety on train Understanding passenger needs Food facility Clarity of information given at stations Dealing with you in Dependability in Caring fashion handling service problems Cleanliness of train Staff knowledge to Answer questions Measurement = Arithmetic measurement of the degree of perceptions of importance of attributes RANK = Ranking of the attributes measured by importance Table 4: Attributes with width from narrowest zone and widest zone Attribute Larg Z Ran k Attribute Larg Z Rank Train punctuality Understanding your needs Food facility Dependability in handling your problems Cleanliness of train Staff at ticket office Personal safety Clarity of information given at stations Dealing with you in Caring fashion Availability of staff in handling requests Larg Z = Width of the tolerance zone RANK = Ranking of the attribute by the width of the tolerance zone ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 396

11 Table 5: Attributes with width the median position of the highest and lowest zones Attribute Alt Z Rank Attribute Alt Z Rank Train punctuality Staff knowledge Personal safety Having your best interest Dealing with you in Smoothness of ride of Caring fashion train Cleanliness of train Comfortable temperature in train Food facility Staff at ticket office AltZ = Median height of tolerance zone RANK = Ranking of the attributes by the height of tolerance zone 6.3 Comparison of Ranking Statistically it is possible to find the degree of the correlation between the measurements used, comparing it to the ranking generated by the three measurements used. A coefficient of correlation of 1.0 indicate a degree of 100% alignment coefficient 1.0 indicates complete (miss) alignment.table 6 shows the comparison of three rankings obtained. The spearman test revealed a high coefficient of correlation (0.91) among the rankings by the attributes with the ranking obtained by the hierarchy of the width of tolerance zone of the same attributes. In comparison of the rankings by the degree of importance with the rankings obtained by the hierarchy of the heights of the tolerance zones, the coefficient of correlation was still greater, with the value of (0.94). The coefficients are significant to α=0.01. Table 6: Comparison of rankings obtained by the three measurements Attribute Impor tance Rank Width of zone Rank Height of zone Train punctuality Personal safety on train Food facility Dealing with you in Caring fashion Cleanliness of train Medical facility in the train Rank ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 397

12 Complaint Handling System Being informed if there are delays Personal safety at stations Prompt service Maintaining the frequency of trains as scheduled Cleanliness of the station Availability of seating in train Courtesy of staff on train Information in changes in iternery Attribute Impor tance Rank Width of zone Rank Height of zone Updated information about status of train during travel Availability of coach attendant/helper in the train Availability of Carriers (Coolie and trolley) Traveling time of the train Modern appearance of Station Overall appearance of the train Clarity of information given in timetables Comfortable seats in the train Smoothness of ride of the train A neat professional staff Willingness to help you Availability of staff in handling requests Having your best interest at heart. Staff at ticket office Comfortable temperature in train ` Rank ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 398

13 Understanding passenger needs Clarity of information given at stations Dependability in handling service problems Staff knowledge to Answer questions The coefficients of negative correlations ( 0.72 and 0.84,α = 0.01) suggests that the width of tolerance zone ahs the inverse behavior to the importance of attributes, as well as the height of the zone. As expected, the correlation of the height of the zone with the importance of the attributes was direct (0.96,α = 0.01). The results of the tests of correlation are presented in table 7. Table 7: Coefficients of the correlations obtained by the Spearman and Pearson Tests Correlation Coefficients Ranking Spearman Test Importance Width of Tolerance Zone Height of Tolerance zone Importance Width of Tolerance Zone Height of Tolerance zone Nominal values Pearson test Importance Width of Tolerance Zone Height of Tolerance zone Importance Width of Tolerance Zone Height of Tolerance zone Conclusions The aim of this study was to assess passenger rail service quality based on zone of tolerance model with modified attributes suitable to railway passenger services. The results of statistical analysis showed that the perceived service is with in the zone of tolerance and it can be said that service provided is acceptable to passengers. As managerial implications it may be cited that Indian Railways should concentrate on punctuality of trains, safety of passengers, cleanliness and food quality which showed a greater importance.there are limitations in the present study regarding the possible generalizations of the results obtained with the levels of expectations about the attributes for the population as a whole, as this was not the central objective of the study. Cultural factors, price,urgency, first use, or renovation can influence the limits of the tolerance zone. Finally, the zone of tolerance provides information about what areas and attributes that are needed to be improved but not how to improve them. Future research on finding, examining, and measuring the determinants of expectation would add value to monitoring service quality. ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 399

14 8. References 1. Allen,W.G. and Dicesare,F.(1976), Transit Service evaluation: preliminary identification of variables characterizing level of service, Transportation Research Record,Vol. 606,pp Asian Development Bank Report on Indian Railways, RRP: IND Beinstock, C.C., 2. Mentzer, J.T. and Bird, M.M. (1997), Measuring physical distribution service quality, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 25 No.1, pp Cronbach, L.J. (1951), Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of test,psychometrica, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp Churchill Jr., G. A. (1979), A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs, Journal of Marketing Research Vol. 16, pp Carman, J. (1990), Consumer perceptions of service quality: an assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp Cronin, J.J. and Taylor, S.A. (1992), Measuring service quality: a reexamination and extension, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56 No. 3, pp Dabholkar, P.A., Shepherd, C.D. and Thorpe, D.I. (2000), A comprehensive framework for service quality: an investigation of critical conceptual and measurement issues through a longitudinal study, Journal of Retailing,Vol. 76 No. 2, pp Drea, J.T. and Hanna, J.B. (2000), Niche marketing in intrastate passenger rail transportation, Transportation Journal, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp Gronroos, C., A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications, European Journal of Marketing, No 4, pp 36 44, G Shainesh and Mukul Mathur, Service Quality Measurement: The Case of Railway Freight Services, Vikalpa, Vol. 25, No.3, Hanna, J.B. and Drea, J.T. (1998), Understanding and predicting passenger rail travel: an empirical study, Transportation Journal, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1985), A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 3, pp Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988), SERVQUAL: a multiple item scale for measuring customer perceptions of service quality, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64 No. 1, pp ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 400

15 Pullen,W.T.(1993), Definition and measurement of quality of service for local public transport management, Transport Reviews, Vol.13 No 3,pp Raghuram and Rachna Gangwar, Indian Railways in the Past Twenty Years Issues, Performance and Challenges, W.P. No , Rust,R.T. and Oliver,R.L.(1994) Service quality insights and managerial implications from the frontier, in Rust and Oliver (Eds), Service quality : New Dimensions in Theory and Practice, Sage, London,pp Silcock, D.T. (1981), Measures of operational performance for urban bus services, Traffic Engineering and Control, Vol. 22 No. 12, pp Shainesh and Mukul Mathur (2000), Service Quality Measurement : The Case of Railway Freight Services Vikalpa,Vol 25, pp Biographical notes Devi Prasad Maruvada is a Research Scholar in School of ManagementStudies,University of Hyderabad,India. He is a Post Graduate in Management and also Post Graduate in Computer Applications. He has published papers in the area of Railway Service quality in IEEE conferences and in a few Management Journals. Dr Raja Shekhar Bellamkonda is a Professor at School of Management Studies,University of Hyderabad. He did his PhD from Kakatiya Univesity,India.His area of specialization is Supply chain Management, Service quality management and Total Quality management. He has published many papers in national and international journals and conferences. He has authored 3 books ASIAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 401