Table of Contents

Introduction: .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Literature Review: ........................................................................................................................................ 3
Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 5
Sampling and data collection ........................................................................................................................ 7
Questionnaire ............................................................................................................................................ 7
Data analysis and finding: ............................................................................................................................. 7
Conclusion: .................................................................................................................................................. 13
References: ................................................................................................................................................. 14


Introduction:
Uniformed and enhanced service quality is much important for Railway service to survive and to
compete with the low cost transportation service. Its important for railways to get its
competitive edge and to capture its market share which let it to profitability, is only be done by
providing superior quality service to passengers. In service driven organization service quality is
most important characteristic which drive the organization toward success and sustain its
competitive edge from its competitors. A research has revealed the fact that good service quality
leads to the retention of existing customers and attraction of new customers, an enhanced the
corporate image and ultimately enhanced profitability. (Cronin et al., 2000; Berry et al., 1989)
The most important model which is used to measure the spacious variety of service quality is
SERVQUAL. This model consists of 22 aspects which is representing 5 dimensions, was
initially applicable is 5 different service driven areas: Retail banking, Credit cards service,
Repair and Maintenance of electrical appliances, Long distance telephone services, Title
brokerage (Riadh Lakhari, 2009)
SERVQUAL can also be applied internally so that it can check the employees perception about
the service quality with the objective of achieving the improvement. SERVQUAL is
measurement of Gaps between customer expectations and experience. Service quality is
comparison of expectation and actual act, after this it can come to know difference or the gaps
between them which than help to understand the problems and then provide solutions. There are
five gaps written in the literature are:(Transportation Research Board, 1999)
Consumer expectation Management perception gap
Management perception Service quality specification gap
Service Quality Specification Service delivery gap
Service delivery External communication gap
Expected Service Perceived gap

These are the indicators which make the measurement method more effective and focused. They
start with management and end up with actual perceived performance. In the public
transportation field passenger satisfaction is interlinked with the perceived inconsistency
between actual and the ideal delivery of service. So thats why the measurement and
understanding of passenger satisfaction is interlinked with the perception and expectation of
service so that service integrates both issues. (Parasuraman et al 1985, Rust and Oliver 1997).
SERVQUAL instrument is very important in service quality but also have criticisms. It is stated
that this model have to have substantial adaptation in some services area (Dabholkar et al.,
1996). So this model didn`t apply directly to any service setting organization but we have to alter
or modify it according to situation add and remove some items. (Carman, 1990)
Literature Review:
Quality plays a major role in entry of global economies. High quality leads business toward
success. Service quality can be measure through many factors but the very common and well
know factors are conceptualized as a reliability, empathy, assurance, responsiveness and
tangibility. These are the dimension know as SERVQUAL model. SERVQUAL is appropriate
tool in improving the quality and defining the gaps of different areas. SERVQUAL also identify
difference between expectation and perception of different dimension. (parasuraman et al. 1985:
Rust and Oliver, 1994).SERVQUAL methodology is much important because it is that model
which evaluates the difference between customer perception and expectation about quality.
Using SERVQUAL methodology can let the organization to have access five dimensions
(reliability, empathy, assurance, responsiveness and tangibility) to determine the intensity of
service provided and to identify which dimension need to improvement.(Rajdeep Singh, Dinesh
Khanduja.2010). In the developing countries they use that model which is very effective in
determining the overall satisfaction of current railway service in different state of affairs, which
then provide estimation, betterment and upgrading in railway service practice. It can measure the
railway service quality in reference to Passenger perception which helps to access the
competence of railway service. (Khan RubayetRahman,Md. ArifurRahaman, 2009). As we are
working on SERVQUAL and we redesign this model for the purpose to apply this on railway
passenger service we make RAILQUAL which very valid and reliable scale. (Devi Prasad
maruvada,Dr. Raja shekhar Bellamkonda, 2010). One of the ways to improve the
competitiveness of railway passenger service provider is to improve their service quality. The
way railway service can be get better is the appliance of RAILQUAL on railway passenger
service. The model which assist us to identify the gaps in different dimension over a period of
time and for managers it make possible to evaluate the performance. RAILQUAL is that tool
which helps us in taking out the several perceived quality segment from our target market on the
criteria of perception and perceived performance. These segments can be analyzed in different
dimensions. RAILQUAL identifies the areas which need to be get attention and action to
improve in service quality of railway passengers service. (M. Devi Prasad:B. Raja Shekar,
2010)
There are so many gaps which we can identify with the help of Servqual model. Following are
the gaps mentioned consumer expectation-management perception gap, service quality gap,
service delivering gap, external communication gap.(oliver,1997), (Parasuraman et al,
1985).The railway service has to focus on following things on time service delivery, safe
environment, neat and hygienic food. (Devi Prasad, Raja Shekhar. b). Service quality is the only
key to success in the land of business. Because when we entered in the business our
differentiation is only our quality on which we claim our self. (Parasuraman et al 1988), (Rust
and Oliver 1994).After the survey the researcher came to know that trainings of Employees and
meeting the needs of the customers are the two main issues in the railway services. (M. Devi
Prasad, 2010), (Dr .B Raja Shekhar, 2010).Servqual tells us the gaps between expectations and
perceptions of the Service quality. If expectations are high than it is very difficult to meet all
them.(Dabholkar et al, 1996. It is very hard to explain and quantify the service quality because,
quality can never express in numbers.(wisniewski,2001). The higher expectation leads to
customer dissatisfaction. (Parasuraman et al, 1985), (lewis and Mitchell, 1990).If we want to
improve Service quality than we have to keep in touch with our workers on daily basis.
(DrArashShahin). Servqual is based on criteria on which we can easily measure the service
quality. Where if the quality is better the gaps would be low and Servqual also calculate the five
Different dimensions. (landrum, Prybutok,Kappelman, &Zhang, 2008). Job related pressure may
leads to dissatisfaction of the customers, because, empathy, assurance and tangibility disturb and
gaps may be increase. (nitecki and Hernon , 2000). The three new dimensions of Service quality
are as follow service product, social responsibility and service delivery. (bienstock et al, 1997).

Methodology
The aim of the study is to evaluate the railway passengers service quality by referring to Zeithmal and
other SERVQUAL models, which can almost all the important attributes. We can adjust this model
according to railway service. We have design the questionnaire after the interview of some passengers as
well as railway officers and it contains 42 questions. We have added three more dimensions in our
research. i.e.: Assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness and tangibles.
Dimension No. Attributes
Assurance 7 Q1: Staff is available in train
Q2: Railway staff informs you if there is any delay
Q3: Personal safety at station is assured
Q4: Personal safety on train is assured
Q5: staff at ticket office are available
Q6: Staff has the knowledge to answer your questions
Q7: Staff provides you the knowledge about train timings
Empathy 4 Q8: Dealing with you in a caring fashion when you make inquiries
Q9: Overall attitude of the staff
Q10: Understanding your needs when you make inquiries
Q11: Having your best interests at heart
Reliability 4 Q12: the frequency of trains are scheduled according to the time table
Q13: The company provides on time train services
Q14: Dependability in handling your service problems
Q15: Performing services right at the first time
Responsiven
ess
3 Q16: Staff is willing to help you
Q17: Are they providing you a quick services
Q18: Availability of staff in handling your requests
Tangibility 8 Q19: Staff neatness and professional appearance on train
Q20: Error-free information given in timetables
Q21: Error-free timetables given at stations
Q22: Cleanliness of station
Q23: Station appearance is modern
Q24: Cleanliness of train overall
Q25: Overall appearance train
Q26: Staff neatness and professional appearance in ticket office
Comfort 7 Q27: Seats are available on train
Q28: Seats are comfortable
Q29: Passengers attitude on train
Q30: Temperature is sizeable on train
Q31: The ride is smooth on train
Q32: Chance of accidents
Q33: Traveling time on train is adequate
connection 5 Q34: Adequacy of parking facilities
Q35: Ease of access to your home station
Q36: Ease of access to the nearest station at your working
place/school/destination
Q37: Frequency of trains that meet your needs
Q38: Trains running at suitable times so you can catch connecting
transport services
Convenience 3 Q39: Ease of access to travel information
Q40: Ease access to ticket office
Q41: Convenient office hours at ticket office


Sampling and data collection
We have surveyed the passenger line from Lahore to Rawalpindi for the sake of our research.
One passenger line is enough to determine the selected variables with the help of random
sampling. The population studied in this research was all those passengers who traveled in whole
Punjab during surveyed period. A sample of 150 questionnaires was distributed. The number of
returned questionnaire was 143. But usable questionnaires were 132. The non-usable
Questionnaires were mainly due to half filled and incomplete questionnaire.
Questionnaire
The objective of this research required that the perceptions of passengers regarding the
importance of attributes. The questionnaire designed with likert scale and has strongly agreed,
agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree options.
Data analysis and finding:

Importance of Attributes Mean Std. D
1 staff at ticket office are available 2.46 1.11
2 convenient office hours at ticket

2.72 1.36
3 Ease of access to nearest station at your working
place/school/destination. 2.79 1.21
4 erase of access to your home station 2.80 1.28
5 staff neatness and professional appearance on train 2.84 1.31
6 ease access to ticket office

2.85 1.18
7 staff is available in train

2.96 1.24
8 adequacy of parking facilities

3.02 1.33
9 ease of access to travel information 3.03 1.29
10
staff has the knowledge to answer your question 3.04 1.22
11 seats are comfortable

3.09 1.25
12 staff neatness and professional appearance at the ticket office 3.10 1.35
13 passenger's attitude on train

3.17 1.18
14 trains running at suitable times so you can catch connecting transport 3.18 1.32
services
15 staff provides you the knowledge about the trains 3.19 1.30
16 frequency of trains that meets your need 3.24 1.26
17 seats are available on train

3.26 1.29
18 personal safety at train assured

3.31 1.35
19 dealing with you in a caring fashion when you make inquiries 3.32 1.15
20 Railway staff inform you if there is any delay 3.33 1.32
21 understanding your need when you make an inquiry 3.35 1.16
22 overall attitude of the staff

3.36 1.12
23 personal safety at station assured 3.37 1.27
24 chance of accidents

3.39 1.29
25 staff is willing to help you

3.44 1.22
26 traveling time on train is adequate 3.44 1.24
27 availability of staff in handling your requests 3.47 1.16
28 cleanliness of station

3.47 1.24
29 error-free information given in timetables 3.48 1.23
30 overall train appearance

3.49 1.20
31 having your best interests at heart 3.49 1.18
32 temperature is sizable on train

3.53 1.17
33 error-free timetables given at the station 3.55 1.21
34 dependability in handling your services problems 3.56 0.98
35 the ride is smooth on train

3.59 1.15
36
cleanliness of train overall

3.64 1.17
37 performing services right at the first time 3.66 1.07
38 the frequency of trains are schedules according to the time table 3.67 1.21
39 station appearance is modern

3.67 1.23
40 the company provides on time train services 3.69 1.07
41 are they providing you a quick service 3.69 1.08


KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy.
.863
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 7384.209
df 820
Sig. .000

KMO and Bartlett's Test adequacy describes that the data is reliable for major factor analysis.
The value of kmo is .863 its shows the consistency in the data. There are not any missing values
and outliers in the data. It is a distributed data with higher reliability in it.

Rotated Component Matrix (a)


Component
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
staff is available in train .116 .067 .197 .746 .151 .075 -.042 .144 .082 -.012
Railway staff inform
you if there is any delay
.492 .170 .190 .450 -.003 .248 -.007 .170 .052 -.184
personal safety at
station assured
.236 -.086 .151 .762 -.003 .208 .136 .027 .021 -.072
personal safety at train
assured
.209 .109 .021 .798 .089 .065 .047 -.021 .039 .182
staff at ticket office are
available
.262 .300 .038 .263 -.103 -.137 .412 .005 .128 .228
staff has the knowledge
to answer your question
.517 .113 .062 .337 .021 -.100 .108 .254 .057 .307
staff provides you the
knowledge about the
trains
.661 .129 .231 .087 .207 .140 .013 .186 .043 .112
dealing with you in a
caring fashion when
you make inquiries
.772 -.055 .218 .058 .092 .202 .145 .031 .002 .019
overall attitude of the
staff
.756 -.028 .202 .174 .083 .106 .002 -.024 .056 .063
understanding your
need when you make an
inquiry
.768 .186 .051 .170 .189 .011 .045 .067 .064 .000
having your best
interests at heart
.661 .200 .084 .120 .208 .238 .053 .096 .067 -.082
the frequency of trains
are schedules according
to the time table
.163 .001 .049 .144 .205 .699 .029 .203 .015 .062
the company provides
on time train services
.199 .091 .124 .142 .138 .797 .137 .023 .039 -.044
dependability in
handling your services
problems
.317 .039 -.008 .129 .205 .546 .177 -.002 .021 .446
performing services
right at the first time
.296 .004 .043 .068 .558 .233 .204 .139 .022 .269
staff is willing to help
you
.312 .037 .254 .112 .530 .377 .097 .103 .086 -.134
are they providing you
a quick service
.245 .106 .259 .073 .682 .265 .149 .044 .052 -.166
availability of staff in
handling your requests
.125 .157 .285 .071 .738 .098 -.006 .036 .066 .125
staff neatness and
professional appearance
on train
.194 .457 .114 .176 .270 -.144 .329 .045 .182 .012
error-free information
given in timetables
.091 .013 .057 .145 .117 .124 .060 .064 .920 -.063
error-free timetables
given at the station
.178 .269 .344 .248 .077 .292 .237 .166 .206 -.335
cleanliness of station .240 -.026 .735 -.032 .219 .008 .269 .032 .046 .052
station appearance is
modern
.201 .092 .771 .112 .079 -.043 .094 .039 .030 -.020
cleanliness of train
overall
.142 .159 .713 .136 .192 .095 .087 .029 -.013 .067
overall train appearance .107 .194 .650 .243 .066 .225 .047 .171 .066 .024
staff neatness and
professional appearance
at the ticket office
.064 .496 .257 .196 .028 .069 .270 -.022 .115 -.006
seats are avaailable on
train
.234 .254 .004 .050 .340 -.033 .378 .345 .021 -.236
seats are comfortable .154 .383 .047 .161 .280 -.220 .440 .256 .066 .011
passenger's attitude on
train
.082 .382 .200 -.052 .078 .029 .509 -.242 .087 -.036
temperature is sizable
on train
-.011 .127 .103 .039 .048 .238 .697 .078 .104 .165
the ride is smooth on
train
.029 -.059 .164 .004 .095 .131 .729 .267 .028 -.011
chance of accidents .077 .164 .126 .244 .094 .060 .051 .692 .028 .062
traveling time on train
is adequate
.104 .036 .039 -.011 .104 .121 .161 .692 .035 .022
adequacy of parking
facilities
.288 .312 .248 -.158 -.198 .177 .087 .450 .216 .028
erase of access to your
home station
.070 .093 .038 .003 .022 -.041 .146 .048 .936 .109
ease of access to
nearest station at your
working
place/school/destination
.088 .461 .138 .143 -.045 -.030 .144 .228 .190 .384
frequency of trains that
meets your need
.105 .392 .320 .008 .122 .167 .141 .122 .053 .543
trains running at
suitable times so you
can catch connecting
transport services
.111 .295 .428 .096 .319 .030 -.059 .305 .037 .208
ease of access to travel
information
.199 .459 .269 -.076 .059 .310 -.128 .289 .118 -.299
ease access to ticket
office
.025 .815 .101 -.063 .057 .013 .065 .117 -.057 .051
convenient office hours
at ticket
.077 .754 .010 .047 .099 .094 .017 .071 -.017 .057
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varian with Kaiser Normalization.
a Rotation converged in 9 iterations.

Interpretation of rotated component matrix
Any value greater than .5 can consider as factors they are loaded more than other factor. These factors
contribute heavily to total variance. These loaded factors contribute to the findings of the factor analysis.
These might be negatively or positively selected to explain the importance of the factors that are
considered within the data. These factors are below

Railqual
Assurance loaded value
1. staff is available in train .746
2. personal safety at station assured .762
3. staff has the knowledge to answer your question .517
4. staff provides you the knowledge about the trains .661
Empathy
1. dealing with you in a caring fashion when you make
inquiries
.772
2. overall attitude of the staff .756
3. understanding your need when you make an inquiry .768
4. having your best interests at heart .661
Reliability
1. the frequency of trains are schedules according to the
time table
.699
2. the company provides on time train services .797
3. dependability in handling your services problems .546
4. performing services right at the first time .558
Responsiveness


1. staff is willing to help you

.530
2. are they providing you a quick service .682
3. availability of staff in handling your requests .738
Tangibility
1. error-free information given in timetables

.920
2. cleanliness of station .735
3. station appearance is modern .771
4. cleanliness of train overall .713


Conclusion:
Hence after doing all the factor analysis this research comes up with some of attributes. As
discuss in literature that Railqual is the tool to check the service quality of any railway service of
any region so there are some attributes this research shows us that have positive and negative
impact on the service quality of rail way service of Pakistan. As this tool is meant to check the
service quality so it covers most of the attributes which can have impact on railway service.







5. overall train appearance .650
Comfort
1. passenger's attitude on train .509
2. temperature is sizable on train .697
3. the ride is smooth on train .729
4. chance of accidents .692
5. traveling time on train is adequate .692
Connection
1. frequency of trains that meets your need .543
Convenience
1. ease access to ticket office .815
2. convenient office hours at ticket .754
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