A STUDY ON PASSENGERS SATISFACTION TOWARDS RAILWAY SERVICE

WITH REFERENCE TO COIMBATORE JUNCTION

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Indian railways provide the principle mode of transportation for freight and passengers. Indian
railways have been a vital component of the social, political and economic life of the country. Indian
railways transportation network has played a key role in weaving India in to a nation. This network has
not only integrated markets but also people across length and breadth of the country. It has bound the
economic life of the country and helped in accelerating the development of the industry. Indian railway is
one of the fast growing service sectors which operate trains in and around different parts of the country. It
offers various facilities to the passengers and making sincere attempt to enrich and improve the
infrastructure arrangement in the respective railway junction. The benefits of new technology and
advancement of atomization have been taken into account for providing various services to the Indian
passengers.

As a crucial infrastructure railways have an important responsibility to participate in providing

linkages to the upcoming centers of growth. In view of the state government is looking for strategic
option to improve transport facilities. This includes conversion of existing railway lines from
narrow/meter gauge to board gauge, establishment of new railway lines to connect the industrial growth
centers , logistic hubs and ports. In this area, the state government is looking for private sector
participation in general as also foreign direct investments.

Indian railways , the prime movers of the nation, is pivotal to the development of the country. It is the
third largest network under a single management. It carries largest number of passengers (approximately
6.7 billion in a year) and one of the largest volumes of cargo (749 million tones in the year 2007-08)
among the worlds major rail systems.

Indian Railwayis an efficient system of transportation. The energy consumption of freight movement is
about one fifth of the consumption required by travels. IR is an efficient system of transportation. The
energy consumption of freight movement is about one fifth of the consumption required by travels
DEFINITION OF RAIL TRANSPORT:

Rail transport is also known as train transport it is a means of transport, on vehicles which run on
tracks (rails or railroads). It is one of the most important, commonly used and very cost effective modes
of commuting and goods carriage over long, as well as, short distance .since this system runs on mental
(usually steel) rails and wheels, it has an inherent benefit of lesser frictional resistance which helps attach
more load in terms of wagons or carriages this system is known as a train. Usually trains are powered by
an engine locomotive running on electricity or on diesel. Complex signaling systems are utilized if there
are multiple rout networks. Rail transport is also one of the fastest modes of land transport.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The study is mainly focused on the satisfaction level of the passenger from the services offered by
southern railways every aspect related to railway service like ticket availability ,quality of travel ,staff
behavior ,safety ,timing etc. are studied at different level of the research .the sample population is chosen
from Coimbatore junction .the research is mainly conducted to obtain the quality of the services
providing by the southern railways.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

1.To know the passenger’s level of satisfaction towards railway service in Coimbatore
junction

2.Toanalysis the factor influencing the satisfaction level of the railway passengers

3. To study the problem faced by the passenger

Statement of the Problem:

In India the population is increasing day by day. So the people are people are needed transportation to
move from one place to another place. So most of the people prefer railway transportation. The railway
passengers are facing a lot of problems. The research goes a ride on the problems faced by the passengers.
So the majority of problems availability of ticket, over crowed, delay in arrival, poor safety measure etc.
Henceforth my study focuses on all these Factors.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected from 50
passengers in Coimbatore railway junction with help of questionnaire, and Secondary data have been
collected form books, journals, newspapers, Periodicals, reports, and internet. Statistics tools used in this
study is simple percentage analysis.

LIMITATIN OF THE STUDY :

The study is mainly based on the information given by the sample respondents, and the factors
given by them are subject to their beliefs and attitude. Due to time and economic constraints of the
research, number of respondent has been limited to 50. The suggestion are not constant because the
mindset of the respondent may be changed. Since the data collected from the respondent are subjected to
their opinion and perception. The study mainly covered the southern railway Coimbatore junction, so it
may be very in other junction.
 CHAPTER -II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Anand K Sharma &Mathew j manimala (2007) outline that there wear external as well as internal
cause for the declining performance of India railways .the budgetary support from the central government
was dwindling and its financial situation did not allow higher budgetary support to the ministry of
railway besides the competition from road and air was increasing.

Asian Business Review (2004), Outline India is considered to be the latest Asian economy to reach
“tiger” status, is spending billions of dollars with the help of the Asian Development Bank to Upgrade its
infrastructure.

Vishnuvarthan and selvaraj (2012), concluded that the awareness of the passengers about the railway
services (communication and retiring services .reservation knowledge catering services, utility services,
ticketing and fares, special.

Christoph Wolff (2001), Summarized that Indian Railway must separate tangential areas, such as
manufacturing and catering. From its core business of providing logistics service for freight customers
and passenger service. India has the world’s most vertically integrated rail system.

G.Raghuram Rashaan Gangway (2007) State that Indian Railway needs to respond to the industry
specific needs by interacting with them regularly. There is a potential for Indian Railway provided high
capacity wagons, special purpose wagns ,bigger train loads, closed circuit rakes and round the clock
operation are given significant focus based on the customer specific requirement.

Nick Thisnd Patrick Sates (2008) Suggests a platform for the exchange of views, experience,
competitiveness and quality of Indian railway.

 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 .
PranayPatil (2012) 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.

Sonne (1999) study on customer satisfaction from consultant services identified various factors including perceived
competence of the consultant and the attitude of consultant towards the customer during the service production process .

Gleave ,S..D., (2000) on railway passenger services quality valuation carried was our 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 passenger into improvement the range and quality of facilities and service on station and in trains

Kelley and storey (2000) mention that changing customer preferences, improved competitive offerings, and emergency of
new technologies often drive firms to introduce new service offering as in the case of railway: the n-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 .

PranayPatil (2012) the Indian railway (IR) network connects areas across the length and breadth of the country . The
passengers traveling 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 ne travels from ne 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

krishna, Summarized that Indian Railway must separate tangential areas, such as manufacturing and
catering. From its core business of providing logistics service for freight customers and passenger service.
India has the world’s most vertically integrated rail system.
 CHAPTER-III

Profile of RAILWAY SERVICE:

Indian Railway is the second largest railway in the whole world. Indian railway is one of the most
effective networks established in 1853 to operate both, long distance and suburban rail systems on a
multi-gauge network of broad, meter and narrow gauges. The Indian Railway helps to unite the integral,
social, economical, and cultural foundation of the country. Indian railway has around 114,500 kilometers
of railway track with 7500 railway station. This Railway carries approximately 30 million passengers and
2.8 million tons of freight daily. The present Indian railways are characterized by challenges of market
changes and increasing demand in capacity Moreover, competition is a key factor in achieving improved
productivity, lower prices and higher quality of services and products that respond to the changing needs
of the customers. A certain degree of competition exists between rail and road transport, but the level of
competition varies widely with volume, distance and customer needs regarding transit time, reliability of
service and value of goods. Indian railways can provide the necessary customers focus and compete
effectively with road provided its reliability, productivity and efficiency are enhanced. The enlargement
of the service sector is an increase in urbanization,privatization 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 deference. 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 t

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.
History of Coimbatore junction :

Train service in Coimbatore started in 1861. Upon the construction of the podium madras line
connecting Kerala and the west coast with the rest of India. Coimbatore lies on the Coimbatore-shoran
board gauge railway division was functioning with podiumas the headquarters. In 1956 the headquarters
was named olavakkod railway division . in 1980, olavakkod division was renamed Palakkad railway
stations in Kerala, which some saw as unfair. Because of this, protests arose in Tamilnadu to form new
railway division with Coimbatore as its headquarters .Other major railway stations catering to the city
include Coimbatore junction, podanur junction and minor stations at peelamedu, singanallur, irugur
junction, perianaikanpalayam, madukkarai, somanur and sulur.