March - April 2020

ISSN: 0193-4120 Page No. 15573 - 15579

Service Quality in Southern Railway – Are

Passengers Satisfied with the Services?
Dr. S. Shalini1, Dr.R.Karthikeyan2, Dr.P.S.Venkateswaran3
1
Guest Lecturer, Entrepreneurship Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai.
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies,
Kalaignar Karunanidhi Institute of Technology, Coimbatore.
3
Professor, Department of Management Studies, PSNA College of Engineering and Technology,
Dindigul. venkatespsna07@gmail.com

Article Info Abstract

Volume 83
Page Number: 15573 - 15579
Publication Issue:
March - April 2020
Article History
Article Received: 24 July 2019
Revised: 12 September 2019
Accepted: 15 February 2020
Publication: 26 April 2020
The present research tries to know the types of services marketed and how the
Southern Railway can improve its services to suit the customer/rail user’s needs
by matching with its service product offer. The study deals with all the services
offered and facilities provided by the Southern Railway (SR) along with the
satisfaction level and suggestions of the passengers to improve the services and
facilities in the Southern Railway. The present research tries to know the types of
services marketed and how the Southern Railway can improve its services to suit
the customer/rail user’s needs by matching with its service product offer.
Passenger satisfaction towards the southern railway was dependent on service
quality and rail service quality.
Keywords: RAILQUAL, Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance,
Empathy, Passenger satisfaction, Southern railway, Coimbatore.

1. INTRODUCTION enterprise in India, and contributes about 1

Today, many developments have
taken place in the transport industry.
Development in the Southern Railway has
also been rapid. Modernization and
technological up-gradation of its services
have made the Southern Railway (SR)
occupy the prime place in the Indian
Railway. The Indian Railways (IR) is the
oldest service provider in India. Indian
railway is one of the leading job providers in
India. India railway is called the life line of
the nation because it connects each and
every parts of the country. IR is the major
contributor of Indian economic system.
Majority of the suburban used the IR
services. It is also the biggest state-owned
per cent of India’s Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) (White Paper on IR).
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
According to Parasuraman (1985),
satisfaction level of passengers is derived
from the level of services they received from
the service providers. Perceiving the
services and evaluating the quality of service
varies differ (Devi Prasad, 2010). Customer
satisfaction is highly depended on the
service quality and which has a strong and
positive effect with customer satisfaction
(Venkateswaran et al. (2017). Quality of
services makes the customers into a
complete satisfaction in the case of

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construction industries (Venkateswaran et
al. 2018).
The service dimensions in the
Southern Railways are classified into
product related services, prices of the goods
and services, promotional aspects of services
and distribution of services (Surat Kumari,
2005; Venkateswaran et al. 2015).
Improving the service quality will increase
the customer satisfaction (David Rajesh et
al, 2015). Service quality is a strong
predictor of customer (student) satisfaction.
These service quality variables are:
Speed of the train, safety, availability of first
aid, arrival and departure of train in time,
free from breakdown and accident,
displaying name chart in reserved
compartments, touch screen facility, public
address system, provision for making
complaints, sitting facilities at station,
comfortable seating arrangement in the
coach, comfortable moving space, less jerk
and vibration, catering service at station and
in train, drinking water facility at station and
in train, cloak room facility, bathroom
facility at waiting room, licensed
porters/trolley service, availability of mobile
shops, lighting facility at station and in train,
online booking facility, train fare,
reservation and cancellation charges and
concession ticket facilities.
Similarly, from the past reviews, rail
service quality (RAILQUAL) were
identified and listed below. These variables
are courtesy of staff on train, availability of
parking facilities at station, maintenance of
time of trains as scheduled, ease of access to
travel information, being informed if there
are delays, ease of buying tickets, a neat
and professional appearance of staff at train,
dealing with passengers in a caring fashion,
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March - April 2020
ease of access to home station, personal
safety in train, availability of seats at train,
willingness to help, smoothness of ride on
train, understanding passenger’s needs
queries, personal safety at station,
comfortable seats in train, clarity of
information given in time tables, providing
on time train services, ease of access to
work place, courtesy-staff at ticket office,
dependability in handling service problems,
frequency of trains that meet needs, having
the knowledge to answer questions,
convenient office hours at ticket office, a
neat and professional appearance of staff at
ticket counter, prompt service, traveling
time on train, modern appearance of station,
cleanliness of train, providing information
about all, connection network of train,
clarity of time tables given at stations,
service performance, comfortable
temperature on train, Having best interests at
heart, cleanliness of station, availability of
staff in handling requests and overall
appearance of train.
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The current study is descriptive in
nature. Simple random sampling was
adopted for the current study. The primary
data were collected through an interview
schedule using a structured questionnaire
from the passengers. Secondary data was
collected from internet, magazines and
journals. The passengers are selected from
the southern railway (SR). A sample of 25
passengers was identified and the sample
questionnaires were tested. After receiving
the sampled questionnaire, certain
modifications were made based on the
passenger and experts recommendations.
The final interviews were decided to
conduct from 400 passengers from 6 train
route from Coimbatore to Chennai. But
researcher received a proper response from
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371 passengers. After scrutinizing the research is percentage analysis, reliability

interview scheduled questionnaires, 364 analysis, ‘t’ statistics, Correlation,
usable questionnaires were identified and regression and ANOVA.
used for data analysis. Tools used for the

4. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS

Table 4.1 - The Influence of passenger satisfaction on Service quality perceived
S.No Service Expected service Perceived Exp - Per Service ‘t’
quality Mean scores service Mean service score gap statistics
variables scores score
Male Female Male Female Male Female
1. Tangibility 3.744 3.868 3.451 3.628 0.293 0.241 0.052 0.149
2. Reliability 3.621 3.943 3.535 3.773 0.086 0.172 -0.086 -0.086
3. Responsiveness 3.735 3.872 3.243 3.637 0.492 0.233 0.259 4.894*
4. Assurance 4.016 3.939 3.315 3.732 0.701 0.207 0.494 8.051*
5. Empathy 3.915 4.036 3.482 3.865 0.433 0.171 0.262 4.907*
6 Overall service
quality 3.806 3.931 3.405 3.811 0.401 0.204 0.197 3.118*
*Significant at 5 percent level

Table 4.2 shows that passenger satisfaction
is highly rely on the SQ variables such as
responsiveness, assurance and empathy and
overall service quality is significant at 5
percent level. Assurance, empathy and
responsiveness were having the highest
service gap. All the service gap scores are
positive except reliability score which
indicates that expected services are greater
than the actual perceived service by the
passengers. By providing, the service quality
in effective manner has a positive impact on
the customers and motivates them to be
loyal (Muthupandian.T et al, 2019).
Reliability on the services provided by the
SR is satisfactory. Assurance,
responsiveness and empathy gap scores are
high. i.e the expectation are high on these
service quality factors. These are the factors
railway has to look immediately to minimize
the service gap. Also, it predicts that the
expectation among the female passengers is
greater than the male passenger towards the
services offered by the railway station.

Table 4.2 - The Influence of passenger satisfaction on rail service quality (RAILQUAL)
perceived
S.No RQ Variables Expected service Perceived Exp –Per. Service ‘t’
Mean scores service Mean Service Mean gap statistics
scores scores
Male Female Male Female Male Female
1. Facility in the
4.113 4.125 3.395 3.762
train 0.718 0.363 0.355 6.109*
2. Online booking 4.083 3.889 3.395 3.622 0.688 0.267 0.421 7.014*

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3. Safety &
3.892 3.734 3.203 3.457
security 0.689 0.277 0.412 6.938*
4. Ticket fare 3.673 3.989 3.341 3.553 0.332 0.436 -0.104 -1.482
5. Value added
3.224 3.918 3.672 3.686
services 0.266 0.232 0.034 0.315
6 Overall rail
3.679 4.105 3.517 3.554
service quality 0.5386 0.315 0.2236 3.931*
*Significant at 5 percent level

Table 4.3 shows that passenger satisfaction
is highly rely on the RQ variables such as
Facility in the train safety & security, online
booking and Overall rail service quality is
significant at 5 percent level. Online
booking, Safety & security and Facility in
the train were having the highest service
gap. All the service gap scores are positive
except ticket fare score which indicates that
expected services are greater than the actual
perceived service by the passengers. Also, it
predicts that the expectation among the
female passengers is greater than the male
passenger towards the services offered
inside the train.

Table 4.3 - Correlations between service quality, rail service quality and passenger
satisfaction
Variables Service quality Rail service quality Passenger
satisfaction
Service quality 1.00 0.519* 0.703*
Rail service quality 0.519* 1.00 0.411*
Passenger satisfaction 0.703* 0.411* 1.00
*Significant at 5 percent level

The results show that correlation analysis
was performed between service quality, rail
service quality and passenger satisfaction.
The r-value indicates that correlation value
and p-value and its significance at 5% level.
Service quality is positively and strongly
correlated with passenger satisfaction (r=
0.703, p< 0.01) and moderately correlated
with rail service quality (r= 0.519, p< 0.01).
Rail service quality is positively and
moderately correlated with service quality
(r= 0.519, p< 0.01) and passenger
satisfaction (r= 0.411, p< 0.01).

Table 4.4 - Regression result for service quality (SQ) and passenger satisfaction (PS)
Model R R Adjusted Std. Error Change Statistics Durbin-
Square R Square of the F df1 df2 Sig. F Watson
Estimate Change Change
a
1 .937 .877 .876 .354 676.524 5 474 .000 2.140
a
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
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Regression 423.629 5 84.726 676.524 .000b

1 Residual 59.362 474 .125
Total 482.992 479
a. Dependent Variable: PS
b. Predictors: (Constant), Emp, Rel, Res, Tan, Ass
Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Standardized ‘t’ Sig.
Coefficients Coefficients statistics
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) .235 .056 4.196 .000
Tan .322 .037 .373 8.786 .000
1 Rel .269 .025 .282 10.729 .000
Res .198 .031 .215 6.502 .000
Ass .045 .038 .055 1.162 .246
Emp .110 .030 .120 3.670 .000
a. Dependent Variable: PS

From the above table 4.4, SQ dimensions
and PS are positively and significantly
associated for all the SQ dimensions except
assurance (t=1.162; p>0.05). A statistical
significance (F-value = 676.524; p= 0.01)
was determined. R2 was 0.877 or 87.7%
which was significant at 0.001 levels. This
shows that service quality dimensions
(tangibility, reliability, responsiveness and
empathy explained about 87.7% of the
variation in passenger satisfaction. This
result indicates that passenger satisfaction
towards the southern railway was dependent
on SQ. Durbin-Watson (2.140) results also
indicate a positive and above the value of
+2.

Table 4.5 - Regression result for rail service quality(RSQ) and passenger satisfaction (PS)
Model R R Adjusted Std. Error of Change Statistics Durbin-
Square R Square the Estimate Watson
F df1 df2 Sig. F
Change Change
1 .468a .219 .211 .824 26.628 5 474 .000 2.450
a
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 90.337 5 18.067 26.628 .000b
1 Residual 321.611 474 .679
Total 411.948 479
a. Dependent Variable: PS

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b. Predictors: (Constant), Rvas, RFac, Rsase, Rfare, Rbook

Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized t Sig.
Coefficients
B Std. Error
(Constant) 1.266 .239 5.290 .000
RFac .104 .048 .089 2.177 .030
Rfare .085 .041 .105 2.084 .038
1
Rsase .296 .064 .269 4.640 .000
Rbook .128 .060 .126 2.122 .034
Rvas .056 .058 .050 .967 .334

From the above table 4.5, rail service quality
dimensions and passenger satisfaction are
positively and significantly associated for all
the RSQ dimensions except rail value added
services (t=0.967; p>0.05). A statistical
significance (F-value = 26.628; p= 0.01)
was determined. R2 was 0.219 or 21.9%
which was significant at 0.001 levels. This
shows that rail service quality dimensions
(RFac, Rsase, Rfare, Rbook) explained PS
satisfaction towards the southern railway
was dependent on RSQ. Durbin-Watson
(2.450) results also indicate a positive and
above the value of +2.

Table 4.6 - Regression result for OSQ, ORSQ and PS

a
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 88.771 2 44.385 53.705 .000b
1 Residual 394.221 477 .826
Total 482.992 479
a. Dependent Variable: PS
b. Predictors: (Constant), OSQ ORSQ,
Model Unstandardized Standardized ‘t’ Sig.
Coefficients Coefficients statistics
B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 1.373 .187 7.321 .000
1 OSQ .467 .049 .395 9.472 .000
ORSQ .093 .030 .127 3.052 .002

From the above table 4.6, service quality, 5. RESULTS:

rail service quality and passenger
satisfaction are positively and significantly
associated (t=9.472; t=3.052; p>0.05). A
statistical significance (F-value = 53.705; p=
0.01) was determined. This result indicates
that PS towards the southern railway was
dependent on OSQ, SQ and RSQ
Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc.
 Reliability in rail services is satisfactory.
The expectation among the female
passengers is greater than the male
passenger towards the services offered
by the railway station and services
offered inside the train. RSQ is
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positively and moderately correlated
with service quality and passenger
satisfaction. Passenger satisfaction
towards the southern railway was
dependent on SQ and RSQ.
 Passenger satisfaction towards the
southern railway was dependent on
overall service quality, SQ and RSQ.
Hence, the railway department has to
take care of the above said factors to
satisfy their passengers.
6. REFERENCES:
1. White paper on Indian railways,
Railway Board Publication (RPB),
2009.
2. Parasuraman, (1985), A Conceptual
Model of service quality and its
implications for future research,
Journal of Marketing, 49, pp.41-50.
3. David Rajesh, S.Manimaran,
P.S.Venkateswaran (2015). A study
on the linkage between service
quality, service loyalty and customer
satisfaction in commercial banks in
Madurai, Tamilnadu, India.
International Journal of
Contemporary Research in
Humanities and Social Sciences,
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4. Devi Prasad M. and Raja Shekhar B.,
(2010), Measuring service quality of
Indian railway passenger services
using RAILQUAL model”, IEEE
ICMIT10, pp 292-296.
5. Dr.T.Muthupandian,
Dr.A.Sabarirajan, Dr.B.Arun,
Dr.P.S.Venkateswaran and
Dr.S.Manaimaran (2019). Service
Gap In Hospital Industry- A Patient
Centric Analysis. Restaurant
Business, Vol-118-Issue-6.pp.80-90.
6. Dr. P.S. Venkateswaran, Dr. G.
Sivakumar, Dr. K. Subramani, R.
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Sivakumar, Dr. M. Selvaraj (2018),
Brand image, service quality,
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