Educational Administration: Theory and Practice

2023, 29(4), 715-718

ISSN: 2148-2403
https://kuey.net/ Research Article

A Study On Problems Faced By The Passengers In

Southern Railways With Special Reference To Chennai
Railways Division
Dr.J. Arunachalam1*, E. Janarthanan2
1*Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Arignar Anna Government College, Cheyyar.
2Ph. D Research Scholar (part-time), Department of Commerce, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608 002.

Citation: Dr.J. Arunachalam (2023) A Study On Problems Faced By The Passengers In Southern Railways With Special Reference To
Chennai Railways Division, Educational Administration: Theory And Practice, 29(4), 715-718
Doi: 10.53555/kuey.v29i4.5663

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

The main aim of the study is to understand the Passenger satisfaction with the
services provided by Southern Railway, with reference to Chennai Railway
Division, and identify the significant problems faced by the passengers. The data
for the study was randomly selected from 20 passengers in Chennai Division. Both
primary and secondary data were utilized for the study. The present study is
mainly based on primary data collected from the sample passengers. A structured
questionnaire was used for collecting primary data. Since the passengers are
widely scattered and the population was unknown, the study was conducted using
the non-probability sampling technique of convenience sampling method. A
descriptive research design was used in this study to analyze the passenger
satisfaction with the services provided by Southern Railway, with reference to the
Chennai Railway Division. Secondary data for the study were collected from
various sources such as research article, government publication, websites, books,
journals, magazine, and newspaper reports. The data analysis was conducted
using Garrett ranking, the ‘t’ test and ANOVA test. It is concluded that only a very
few passengers are highly satisfied with the services provided by Southern
Railway, Chennai Railway Division. The major problems identified from the study
include a lack of special facilities and a proper claims system for passengers, as
well as inadequate amenities for comfortable journey. The existing infrastructure
does not meet the growing requirements of passengers, which adversely affect
their satisfaction. The government should give due importance to the development
and technological advancement of Southern Railway, Chennai Railway Division.

KEYWORDS: Satisfaction, Southern Railway, Problems and Passengers

1. INTRODUCTION

With the quickening pace of modernization, railway travelers today expect much more from the system in terms
of amenities than they did in the past. The provision of passenger amenities is, therefore, one of the important
objectives of the Indian Railways, both as a business ethic and as a social obligation. Indian Railways has issued
a Citizens’ Charter on Passenger services in which it pledges to ensure adequate passenger amenities in trains
and at railway stations. One of the thrust areas in the 8th plan was to provide basic passenger amenities at all
stations on a priority basis. The introduction of economic liberalization in July 1991 posed a major challenge
for the Indian Railways. As a result, special emphasis was laid on customer care and user-friendly services. This
article deals with the problems faced by the passengers in Southern Railways. The services offered by the Indian
Railways need to be improved to satisfy passengers. Since customers prefer to travel by train, there is a very
good demand for the rail service. If the Indian Railways properly assess the problems and inconveniences of
passengers and deliver the service according to their expectation, it will be the most profitable public sector
undertaking in India. Hence, the present study attempts to analyze the problems faced by the passengers of
Indian railways.

Copyright © 2024 by Author/s and Licensed by Kuey. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
716 Dr.J. Arunachalam /Kuey, 29(4), 5663

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Fellesson., Margareta conducted a transnational comparison of customers’ perceived service satisfaction with
public transport in eight European cities: Stockholm, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Geneva, Helsinki, Vienna,
Berlin, Manchester, and Oslo. The results showed four general factors: system aspects such as traffic supply,
reliability, and information; bus and bus stop design that makes customers comfortable and enhance the travel
experience; staff skill, knowledge, and attitude toward customer; and safety, not only in the bus and at the bus
stop but also protection from traffic accidents. Furthermore, it was concluded that differences in public
transport technology and infrastructure may cause variations in individual item loading.
Research conducted by Laith Alrubaiee and Feras Alkaa’ida studied healthcare quality concerning patient
perception, satisfaction, and trust. It also aimed to test the impact of socio-demographic variables in
determining healthcare quality. The SERVQUAL model was used to measure these aspects, and the results
indicate its reliability. The study suggests that Socio-demographic variables play a vital role in determining
patient perception of health care quality, satisfaction, and trust. Additionally, the study indicates that private
hospitals provide better quality care compared to public hospitals.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Indian railways need to substantially improve the quality of service, customer focus, and service profile to meet
the challenges of more intense competition in the transport market. In this view, Indian railways are expected
to provide services that meet customer requirements. Based on these issues, it is pertinent to focus the study
on passengers’ perception of railways with the following query: What is the perception of the passengers
regarding the services offered by railways in the Chennai Division of Southern Railway.

OBJECTIVES
1. To evaluate the passengers’ perceptions of the services offered by railways.
2. To offer suggestions for improving the conditions of services provided by the railways.

SAMLPING DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The present study is empirical research based on the survey method. It is confined to all four junctions of the
Chennai Division of Southern Railway. The study is based on primary data collected through structured
questionnaire from 600 passengers in Chennai Division of Southern Railway. The respondents for the study
were drawn using the stratified random sampling method. The SPSS package was used for analysis. To
determine the influence of various factors related to the sample respondents’ perceptions of railways,
percentage analysis and chi-square analysis were used to discover any variances in passengers’ perceptions
among the sample respondents.

DATA COLLECTION
Primary and secondary data are used in the present study. The required primary data were collected using a
pre-tested and well-structured questionnaire. The required secondary data were collected from the Annual
Reports of Ministry of Railways, the White paper on Indian railways published by Railway Ministry, various
journals, and websites.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study mainly focuses on the satisfaction level of the passengers with the services offered by Southern
Railways. Every aspect related to railway service, such as ticket availability, quality of travel, staff behavior,
safety, timing, etc. is studied at different levels of the research. The sample population is chosen from Chennai
Railway Division. The research is primarily conducted to evaluate the quality of the service provided by the
Southern Railways.

ANALYSIS

To achieve the objectives of the study, an analysis is conducted to understand the passengers’ perception of the
services provided by railways. The statistical tools used are percentage analysis and average score analysis. The
socio-economic profiles of the respondents are shown below:

Services Gender Mean Std Deviation t-test P value

Reservation 5.325 3.8547 2.587 1.436 0.125

Cancellation of reservation 87.52 3.854 3.58 1.586 0.125

Complaints 3.525 2.568 2.589 2.567 0.236
Claims 3.758 0.285 3.254 1.526 0.256
Getting season ticket 2.568 0.278 2.695 1.525 2.528
Basic Amenities 2.59 0.548 2.972 1.536 0.256
 Dr.J. Arunachalam / Kuey, 29(4) 5663 717

Sources: Primary data 2024

100
90
80
70
60
50
40 Gender
30 Mean
20
10 Std Deviation
0
t
P value

A significant difference was found among different gender groups of passengers regarding satisfaction with the
services provided by Southern Railway. It is noteworthy that the p-value for satisfaction towards services
provided by Southern Railway, including reservation, cancellation of reservation, complaints, claims, obtaining
a season ticket and Tatkal reservation among different age groups of passengers are less than 0.05. Therefore,
the null hypothesis is rejected at 5% level of significance.
The ANOVA test reveals a statistically significant relationship between the age group of the passengers and
their satisfaction towards services provided by Southern Railway, namely reservation, cancellation of
reservation, complaints, claims, obtaining a season ticket and Tatkal reservation. This indicates that the sample
passengers significantly differ in their satisfaction towards these services when classified based on their age
group. Therefore, it is inferred that satisfaction towards services provided by Southern Railway, including
reservation, cancellation of reservation, complaints, claims, obtaining a season ticket and Tatkal reservation is
varies among different age group of the passengers in the study area. It is suggested that Southern Railway
concentrate on these services specifically.

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

It is found that there is a significant difference in satisfaction towards services provided by Southern Railway,
specifically regarding complaints, among different gender group of passengers. It is observed that the sample
passengers differ significantly in satisfaction towards services such as reservation, cancellation of reservation,
complaints, claims, obtaining a season ticket and Tatkal reservation when classified based on their age group.
Additionally, it is identified that the sample passengers differ significantly in the satisfaction towards services
provided by Southern Railway when classified based on their educational qualification. The study also
highlights a significant difference in satisfaction towards services, specifically claims and containing a season
ticket, among passengers of different marital statuses.

SUGESSTION

Additional passenger and premium trains could be operated during holidays and festive occasions to satisfy
the growing needs of passengers. The food served to the passengers needs to be inspected, and catering
facilities could be offered on all short-distance passenger trains. Indian Railways should establish a responsive
and effective grievance redressal mechanism at various levels to ensure timely resolution of complaints and
grievances as far as possible.

CONCLUSION

The present study aims to identify various dimensions that determine passengers’ overall perceived service
quality and to highlight the prominent dimensions in the passengers’ overall service quality. The study
underscores the existing level of passengers’ perception and service quality of Indian Railways. The findings of
this study will assist the concerned authorities in deciding on improvements to passengers’ perception and
service quality, contributing to the overall development of Indian Railways. It is earnestly hoped that the
concerned authorities will consider the suggestions recommended herein to enhance the efficiency of
knowledge and railway services in India.
718 Dr.J. Arunachalam /Kuey, 29(4), 5663

Reference:

[1]. Kotler Philip, Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control (Prentice- Hall of
India, New Delhi, 1990).
[2]. Lewis, Robert C. and Bernard H. Booms, The Marketing Aspects of Service Quality in Emerging
Perspectives on Services Marketing, L. Berry, G. Shostack, and G.Upah, eds., Chicago: American
Marketing, 1983, 99-107.
[3]. Parasuraman A., Zeithaml VA. and Berry LL., A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications
for Future Research, Journal of Marketing, 49, 1985, 41-50.
[4]. Parasuraman A., Zeithaml VA. and Berry, LL., Servqual: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Consumer
Perceptions of Service Quality, Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 1988, 12-40.
[5]. Zeithaml, VA. and Bitner MJ, Service Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across the Firm, (McGraw -
Hill, New York, 2003).
[6]. Suresh Chander G., Rajendran C. and Anantharaman R., The Relationship between Service Quality and
Consumer Satisfaction – A Factor Specific Approach, Journal of Services Marketing, 16(4), 2002, 363-
379.
[7]. Eshghi, A., Roy, S. and Ganguli, S., Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction: An Empirical Investigation
in Indian Mobile Telecommunications Services, Marketing Management Journal, 18(2), 2008, 119-144.
[8]. Gronroos, C., A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications, European Journal of Marketing,
18(4), 1982, 36-44.
[9]. A. Aleeswari,A Study on Service Quality and Passengers Attitude towards Public Transport in Dindigul
District, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu, India, 2012.
[10]. Geetika, Shefali Nandan, Determinants of Customer Satisfaction on Service Quality: A Study of Railway
Platforms in India, Journal of Public Transportation, 13(1), 2010, 97-113.
11. Asian Development Bank Report on Indian Railways, RRP: IND 36317.
12. Devi Prasad Maruvada and Raja Shekhar Bellamkonda, “Analyzing the passenger service quality of Indian
Railways using Railqual: Examining the applicability of fuzzy logic”. International Journal of Innovation,
Management and Technology 2010; 1(5): 478.
13. White Paper on Indian Railways, Railway Board Publication, December 2009.
14. Fellesson M.F., Margareta. Perceived Satisfaction with Public Transport Service in Nine European Cities.
Journal of the Transportation Research Forum. 2008; 47 (3): 93-103.
15. Laith Alrubaiee, Feras Alkaa’ida, “The mediating effect of patient’s satisfactions of Healthcare Quality –
Patient trust relationship”, International Journal of Marketing Studies. 2011, 3(1).