GROUP PROJECT

ON

“CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS EMU TRAINS WITH SPECIAL

REFERENCE TO BEACH-TAMBARAM SECTOR”

SUBMITTED TO

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

SRM UNIVERSITY

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Mr. S. Senthil Kumar

(Assistant Professor)

SUBMITTED BY

MRINAL DEO (35107176)

Acknowledgements
We express our sincere thanks to Mr S. Senthil Kumar, our Mini Project guide to
have given us the opportunity to work on such a challenging project. We also
would like to thank the commuter’s help, without which it would not have been
possible to accomplish the project successfully. Their timely feedback has
facilitated in bringing the project in the present form.

Last but not the least I would also like to thank our friends who took time off to
share insights about their experiences while travelling in EMUs. This helped us
immensely to understand the psyche of the consumer. We just hope that the
recommendations and suggestions presented by us are considered seriously.
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. Mrinal Deo, Mr. Abhijeet
Sinha & Mr. C.Karthikeyan has successfully
completed the mini project, as a part of academic
fulfilment of Master of Business Administration
(MBA) in the area of Consumer Behaviour.

PROJECT GUIDE DEAN

Mr S. Senthil Kumar (Dr. Jayshree Suresh)
Date: SRM-SOM

PREFACE
Today’s business dynamics is very fast; environment is changing. To understand
the changing market behaviour the organization has to do a systematic study. A
project work is a scientific and systematic study intended to catch the nerves of the
problem or issue with the application of management concept and skills. We were
assigned to understand the customer’s perception and attitude towards local trains.

This report has been complied preliminary in partial fulfilment of the requirement
for the award of the degree of management studies programme.

Apart from theoretical concept of the topic, we have included the findings and

suggestions.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Indian Railways.... the golden Era

16th April, 1853...............The Beginning

The first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a stretch of 21 miles from
Bombay to Thane.

The idea of a railway to connect Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thal
and Bhore Ghats inclines first occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of
the Bombay Government, during a visit to Bhandup in 1843.

The formal inauguration ceremony was performed on 16th April 1853, when 14
railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.30 pm "amidst
the loud applause of a vast multitude and to the salute of 21 guns." The first
passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, a distance of
24 miles, on 15th August, 1854. Thus the first section of the East Indian Railway
was opened to public traffic, inaugurating the beginning of railway transport on the
Eastern side of the sub-continent.

In south the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway
Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of 63
miles. In the North a length of 119 miles of line was laid from Allahabad to Kanpur
on 3rd March 1859. The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment
was opened to traffic on 19th October, 1875.

These were the small beginnings which is due course developed into a network of
railway lines all over the country. By 1880 the Indian Railway system had a route
mileage of about 9000 miles.

INDIAN RAILWAYS, the premier transport organisation of the country is the

largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest under one management.

Indian Railways is a multi-gauge, multi-traction system covering the following:

 Broad Gauge Metre Gauge Narrow Gauge
Track Total
(1676 mm) (1000 mm) (762/610 mm)
Kilometres
86,526 18,529 3,651 108,706
Route Electrified Total
Kilometres
16,001 63,028

7566 - locomotives 37,840 - Coaching vehicles 222,147 - Freight wagons 6853 - Stations

300 - Yards 2300 - Goodsheds 700 - Repair shops 1.54 million - Work force

Indian Railways runs around 11,000 trains everyday, of which 7,000 are
passenger trains.

Chennai suburban railways

• 1 Routes
o 1.1 Central - Avadi - Tiruvallur - Arakkonam - Thiruttani
o 1.2 Central - Thiruvottiyur - Ennore - Ponneri - Gummidipoondi - Sulurpet
o 1.3 Beach - Egmore - Mambalam - Guindy - Meenambakkam - Tambaram
o 1.4 MRTS
• Beach - Egmore - Mambalam - Guindy - Meenambakkam - Tambaram
• Stations: Chennai Beach - Chennai Fort - Park - Chennai Egmore - Chetpet -
Nungambakkam - Kodambakkam - Mambalam - Saidapet - Guindy - St. Thomas Mount -
Pazhavanthangal - Meenambakkam - Trisulam - Pallavaram - Chromepet - Tambaram
Sanatorium - Tambaram - Perungalathur-Vandalur-Urapakkam-Guduvancheri-Potheri-
Kattangulathur-Maraimalai Nagar Kamarajar-Singaperumal Koil-Paranur-Chengalpattu-
Villiambakkam-Palur-Palayasivaram-Walajabad- Nathapettai-Kanchipuram-Tirumalpur-
Thakolam-Arakkonam

Scope of project
This project gave us great exposure to the customer’s perception, because it
includes the service offered. This project helped us in knowing the market
practically.

Our job

1. Drafting questionnaire for the better understanding of passengers satisfaction

level

2. Collection of data on passenger traffic on weekdays and on weekends.

3. Check the availability of prominent display boards at railway stations.

4. Finding out the problems that the commuters are facing while travelling.

Key findings:-

1. By calculating the number of responses, we found that most of the people

were satisfied with the timings of train services (Beach-Tambaram route).

2. Possession of monthly passes by the commuters indicated clearly, that bulk

of them were strongly brand loyal.

3. We also came to know while visiting the stations, that there was big problem
of less number of ticket counters.

4. Many commuters were facing the problem of wooden seats, which were
very uncomfortable.

5. As there were good number of coaches where the seating capacity is more
plying on the Beach-Tambaram route, travelling during peak hour time was
a nightmare.
 SWOT
STRENGTH

 Indian railways is a 100% Government of India owned organization

 Exhaustive railway network across the country

 Dedicated workforce

 Strong financial backing

 This year’s profit rose to Rs 20,000 crores

 Service reliability

WEAKNESS

 Conflict between railway unions and employees

 Delay in getting approvals and funds for new proposals

OPPORTUNITIES

 Strong possibility for railways to capture 90% of container traffic

 With the airline industry facing severe crisis, Indian railways can encash on
this opportunity

 By offering air-conditioned coaches in the local trains, they can target the
upper segment of the market

THREATS

 The possible threats are from the taxi service

 Weak infrastructure and no up-gradation of stations

 Absence of passenger facility will drive away the customer to private modes
of transport

VISION:

To serve the customers with a smile and let them assure of excellent
services.

GROWTH STRATEGY

Fast innovation, Fast growth”

SLOGAN

“Serving customers with a smile”

 Why the brand is recognized?

1. Monopoly in the market

 Suburban railway network of 147 Km

 81 stations

 Daily patronage of over 4.7 lakh passengers

 Proposed extension of MRTS line from Velachery to Saint Thomas

Mount
2. Customer loyalty

 Ever increasing number of commuters taking suburban trains.

 Availability of VLR stalls at railway stations for refreshment.

 Book stalls

 Customized ticket vending machines

 Hassle free journey, free from any type of pollution.

3. Longevity

 Provision of a fast and efficient transport service

 Helps to establish new communities along the routes of railways

4. Overall market acceptance

 Public have developed “patterns of behavior” (i.e. vicarious

learning).

 EMUs has become a part of commuters daily life

 Efficiency in service has been at the forefront for market acceptance

5. Goodwill

 Suburban trains are operating for the past decades

 These services offered by Southern Railway has been always praised

for its on time performance
Objective of the project

 The main objective of field survey during the project was to find out the
commuters satisfaction level of the services offered by Southern Railways.

 The other objective of the research was to identify the other needs of
commuters with respect to number of trains plying on Beach-Tambaram
route.

Secondary objective

 Do the commuters prefer the new ticket vending machines installed at

various suburban stations?

 How frequently commuters complain against the deficiency in train

services?
Research Methodology:
Research methodology is considered as the nerve of the project. Without a
proper well-organized research plan, it is impossible to complete the project
and reach to any conclusion. The project was based on the survey plan. The
main objective of survey was to collect appropriate data, which work as a
base for drawing conclusion and getting result.

Therefore, research methodology is the way to systematically solve the research

problem. Research methodology not only talks of the methods but also logic
behind the methods used in the context of a research study and it explains why a
particular method has been used in the preference of the other methods.

Research design:

Research design is important primarily because of the increased complexity in the

market as well as marketing approaches available to the researchers. In fact, it is
the key to the evolution of successful marketing strategies and programmers. It is
an important tool to study buyer’s behaviour, consumption pattern, brand loyalty,
and focus market changes. A research design specifies the methods and procedures
for conducting a particular study. According to Kerlinger, “Research Design is a
plan, conceptual structure, and strategy of investigation conceived as to obtain
answers to research questions and to control variance.

Types of research is:

• Descriptive Research
The type of research adopted for study is descriptive. Descriptive studies are
undertaken in many circumstances when the researches is interested to know the
characteristic of certain group such as age, sex, education level, occupation or
income. A descriptive study may be necessary in cases when a researcher is
interested in knowing the proportion of people in a given population who have in
particular manner, making projections of a certain thing, or determining the
relationship between two or more variables. The objective of such study is to
answer the “who, what, when, where and how” of the subject under investigation.
There is a general feeling that descriptive studies are factual and very simple. This
is not necessarily true. Descriptive study can be complex, demanding a high degree
of scientific skill on part of the researcher.

Descriptive studies are well structured. An exploratory study needs to be flexible in

its approach, but a descriptive study in contrast tends to be rigid and its approach
cannot be changed every now and then. It is therefore necessary, the researcher
give sufficient thought to framing research.

Questions and deciding the types of data to be collected and the procedure to be
used in this purpose.

Descriptive studies can be divided into two broad categories: Cross Sectional and
Longitudinal Sectional. A cross sectional study is concerned with a sample of
elements from a given population. Thus, it may deal with household, dealers, retail
stores, or other entities. Data on a number of characteristics from sample elements
are collected and analyzed. Cross sectional studies are of two types: Field study
and Survey. Although the distinction between them is not clear- cut, there are some
practical differences, which need different techniques and skills. Field studies are
ex-post-factor scientific inquiries that aim at finding the relations and interrelations
among variables in a real setting. Such studies are done in live situations like
communities, schools, factories, and organizations.
Another type of cross sectional study is survey result, which has been taken by me.
A major strength of survey research is its wide scope. Detail information can be
obtained from a sample of large population .Besides; it is economical as more
information can be collected per unit of cost. In addition, it is obvious that a
sample survey needs less time than a census inquiry. Descriptive research includes
survey and fact finding enquiries of different kinds of the major purpose.
Descriptive research is description of the state of affairs, as it exists at present. The
main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the
variables; he can only report what has happened or what is happening. The
methods of research utilized in descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds
including comparative and co relational methods. The reason for using such needs
to be flexile in its approach, but a descriptive study in contrast tends to be rigid and
its approach cannot be changed ever now and then.
 TAMBARAM RAILWAY STATION

Data collection methods:

After the research problem, we have to identify and select which type of data is to
research. At this stage; we have to organize a field survey to collect the data. One
of the important tools for conducting market research is the availability of
necessary and useful data.

Primary data: For primary data collection, we have to plan the following four
important aspects.

 Sampling
 Research Instrument
  Secondary Data – Indian Railways profile, journals and various literature
studies are important sources of secondary data.
 Data analysis and interpretation
1. Questionnaires
2. Pie chart and Bar chart

Questionnaires:

This is the most popular tool for the data collection. A questionnaire contains
question that the researcher wishes to ask his respondents which is always guided
by the objective of the survey.

Pie chart:

This is very useful diagram to represent data, which are divided into a number of
categories. This diagram consists of a circle of divided into a number of sectors,
which are proportional to the values they represent. The total value is represented
by the full create. The diagram bar chart can make comparison among the various
components or between a part and a whole of data.

Bar chart:

This is another way of representing data graphically. As the name implies, it

consist of a number of whispered bar, which originate from a common base line
and are equal widths. The lengths of the bards are proportional to the value they
represent.

Preparation of report:
The report was based on the analysis and presented with the findings and
suggestions. The sample of the questionnaires is attached with the report itself.

Sampling Methodology:

Details of the sampling methodology, we have made questionnaire. The one is

made for the Commuters.

No. of questions in questionnaires for customer: 07

No. of question related to services offered: 05

No. of respondents during the research: 15

Sample unit

Professionals, Business man,

Employees, Students

Analysis:
Q1. How long you’re using the EMU service?

a) Less than a year

b) 1-5 years
c) >5 years

SPAN OF USING EMU SERVICES

8
7
6
5
4
NUMBER OF
3
RESPONDENTS
2
1
0
<1 YEAR 1-5 YEARS >5 YEARS
YEARS

INFERENCES:

1. Majority of the commuters has been using the EMU service for 1-5 years.

2. It shows that the faith imposed with EMU by the commuters and people are
loyal to EMU services.
Q.2. From which source station to destination do you commute?

Inference: As the field survey was mainly focussed on commuters in beach

tambaram sector, so lot of them were daily commuters from the stations lying in
between.

Q.3. According to you EMU service between Beach-Tambaram is

a) Excellent
b) Very good
c) Good
d) Fair
e) Poor

OPINION ON EMU SERVICE

4
Series1
Series2
3

0
EXCELLENT VERY GOOD GOOD FAIR POOR

INFERENCES: Overall majority of the commuters rated the EMU services

between Beach-Tbm sector as good. This speaks volumes about the services
offered by the Southern Railways.
Q. 4. You commute daily with

a) With a monthly pass

b) Buying tickets
c) Without ticket

MEAN TO COMMUTE

12
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS

10

8
Series1
6
Series2
4

0
MONTHLY BUYING WITHOUT
PASS TICKETS TICKET

INFERENCES:

1. Maximum number of commuters prefers to travel by taking the monthly

pass issued by the railways, as it proves to be lot cheaper than buying
tickets daily.

2. Rest of them were buying tickets on daily or occasional basis, as they

were occasional travellers.

3. This shows that Indian Railways gives special preference to their regular
customers.
Q.5.The level of satisfaction you get from EMU services

a) Highly satisfied
b) Somewhat satisfied
c) Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
d) Dissatisfied
e) Highly dissatisfied

LEVEL OF SATISFACTION

7
6
5 Series1
4 Series2
3 Series3
2 Series4

1
0
DISSATISFIED

DISSATISFIED

DISSATISFIED
SATISFIED

SOMEWHAT
SATISFIED

SATISFIED
HIGHLY

NEITHER

HIGHLY
NOR

INFERENCES:

1. As per our survey, majority of the commuters were somewhat satisfied

and none of them were highly dissatisfied.

2. Next majority were those commuters who were highly satisfied.

3. This analysis clearly indicates that, railways need to do little

improvements and the services will be upto the mark.
Q.5.Tick the appropriate column

SERVICE

a) Excellent

b) Good

c) Fair

d) Bad

e) Very bad

TIMING

a) Excellent

b) Good

c) Fair

d) Bad

e) Very bad

PRICE

a) Excellent

b) Good

c) Fair

d) Bad

e) Very bad
PERFORMANCE

a) Excellent

b) Good

c) Fair

d) Bad

e) Very bad

SATISFACTION SCALE
14

12
NO. OF RESPONDENTS

10

8
SERVICE
6 TIMING
PERFORMANCE
4 PRICE

0
EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR BAD VERY BAD

• Most of the commuters said that the service provided by railways is excellent
and none of them termed it as bad.

• Timing aspect of trains was rated well by majority of the commuters.

• Majority of the commuters said that the performance of EMU’s is excellent.

• Almost all the commuters said that the pricing strategy is excellent by the
railways.

Q.6 Which is the best way to commute in Chennai City? (Rank your choice from
the list)

a) EMU

b) MTC

c) Own vehicle

d) MRTS

e) Cycle

BEST WAY TO COMMUTE IN CHENNAI CITY

14

12
NO. OF RESPONDENTS

10

0
EMU MTC OWN VEHICLE MRTS CYCLE

INFERENCE
 1. Almost all of the commuters preferred EMU trains over any other means of
transport.

2. Usually the buses are crowded and people throng local trains.

Q.7.State your opinion about

I) Cleanliness at the station premises:

a) Excellent

b) Very Good

c) Good

d) Fair

e) Poor

II) Availability of ticket counters

a) Excellent

b) Very Good

c) Good

d) Fair

e) Poor
III) Prompt services

a) Excellent

b) Very Good

c) Good

d) Fair

e) Poor
 IV) Quality of refreshment stalls

a) Excellent

b) Very Good

c) Good

d) Fair

e) Poor

INFERENCE:

• Majority of the commuters said the cleanliness at the station is excellent.

• Whereas majority of them were not satisfied with the number of ticket counters.
• Almost all of them rated the quality of refreshment stalls were poor or fair.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Railways have been at the forefront in transporting people to their respective

workplaces and to their leisure destinations. Moreover there are some loopholes
which need to be plugged in. Few recommendations:

• Efforts should be made to increase the number of ticket counters.

• The number of refreshment stalls has to increase, in order to cater to the

growing needs of the commuters.

• The frequency of train services during peak hours has to increase.

• Railways can introduce the facility of reservation of tickets in local trains

in order to serve the needs of those commuters who commute on long
routes.
 LIMITATIONS

Every study has certain limitations. In my study, also there were certain limitations,
which we could not able to solve.

• Since, it was a mini project so the time available for this project was very
less and this was our major constraint.

• The number of people interviewed was very meagre, so there could be little
variation in the results.

• The sample size is also very small which represent my research on consumer
behaviour.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

• www.indianrail.gov.in

• www.google.co.in

• www.en.wikipedia.org

• www.southernrailways.gov.in
 Consumer survey Questionnaire
Respondent:

Name:

Age:

Sex:

Qualification:

Occupation:

Income: <5000 5000-10000 10000-20000 >20000

Q1. How long you’re using the EMU service?

c) Less than a year

d) 1-5 years
c) >5 years

Q.2. From which source station to destination do you commute?

From To

Q.3. According to you EMU service between Beach-Tambaram is

f) Excellent
g) Very good
 h) Good
i) Fair
j) Poor
Q. 4. You commute daily with

d) With a monthly pass

e) Buying tickets
f) Without ticket

Q.5.The level of satisfaction you get from EMU services

f) Highly satisfied
g) Somewhat satisfied
h) Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
i) Dissatisfied
j) Highly dissatisfied
If you’re highly dissatisfied, state the reason why:

Q.5.Tick the appropriate column

SERVICE

f) Excellent

g) Good

h) Fair

i) Bad
 j) Very bad

TIMING

f) Excellent

g) Good

h) Fair

i) Bad

j) Very bad

PRICE

f) Excellent

g) Good

h) Fair

i) Bad

j) Very bad

PERFORMANCE

f) Excellent

g) Good

h) Fair

i) Bad

j) Very bad
Q.7. Which is the best way to commute in Chennai City? (Rank your choice from
the list)

f) EMU

g) MTC

h) Own vehicle

i) MRTS

j) Cycle

Q.7.State your opinion about

I) Cleanliness at the station premises:

f) Excellent

g) Very Good

h) Good

i) Fair

j) Poor

II) Availability of ticket counters

f) Excellent

g) Very Good

h) Good
 i) Fair

j) Poor
III) Prompt services

f) Excellent

g) Very Good

h) Good

i) Fair

j) Poor

IV) Quality of refreshment stalls

f) Excellent

g) Very Good

h) Good

i) Fair

j) Poor

Thank you for your patience!!!