Table of ContentsIntroduction:2Literature Review:3Methodology5Sampling and data collection7Questionnaire7Data analysis and finding:7Conclusion:13References: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 (RiadhLakhari, 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:(TransportationResearch Board, 1999) Consumer expectation Management perception gap Management perception Service quality specification gap Service QualitySpecification 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 andOliver1997). 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 (Dabholkaret 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).

MethodologyThe 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.DimensionNo.Attributes

Assurance7Q1: Staff is available in trainQ2: Railway staff informs you if there is any delayQ3: Personal safety at station is assuredQ4: Personal safety on train is assuredQ5: staff at ticket office are availableQ6: Staff has the knowledge to answer your questionsQ7: Staff provides you the knowledge about train timings

Empathy4Q8: Dealing with you in a caring fashion when you make inquiriesQ9: Overall attitude of the staffQ10: Understanding your needs when you make inquiriesQ11: Having your best interests at heart

Reliability4Q12: the frequency of trains are scheduled according to the time table Q13: The company provides on time train servicesQ14: Dependability in handling your service problemsQ15: Performing services right at the first time

Responsiveness3Q16: Staff is willing to help youQ17: Are they providing you a quick servicesQ18: Availability of staff in handling your requests

Tangibility8Q19: Staff neatness and professional appearance on trainQ20: Error-free information given in timetablesQ21: Error-free timetables given at stationsQ22: Cleanliness of stationQ23: Station appearance is modernQ24: Cleanliness of train overall Q25: Overall appearance trainQ26: Staff neatness and professional appearance in ticket office

Comfort7Q27: Seats are available on trainQ28: Seats are comfortableQ29: Passengers attitude on trainQ30: Temperature is sizeable on trainQ31: The ride is smooth on trainQ32: Chance of accidentsQ33: Traveling time on train is adequate

connection5Q34: Adequacy of parking facilitiesQ35: Ease of access to your home stationQ36: Ease of access to the nearest station at your working place/school/destinationQ37: Frequency of trains that meet your needsQ38: Trains running at suitable times so you can catch connecting transport services

Convenience3Q39: Ease of access to travel informationQ40: Ease access to ticket officeQ41: Convenient office hours at ticket office

Sampling and data collectionWe 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 AttributesMeanStd. D

1staff at ticket office are available2.461.11

2convenient office hours at ticket2.721.36

3Ease of access to nearest station at your working place/school/destination.2.791.21

4erase of access to your home station2.801.28

5staff neatness and professional appearance on train2.841.31

6ease access to ticket office2.851.18

7staff is available in train2.961.24

8adequacy of parking facilities3.021.33

9ease of access to travel information3.031.29

10

staff has the knowledge to answer your question3.041.22

11seats are comfortable3.091.25

12staff neatness and professional appearance at the ticket office3.101.35

13passenger's attitude on train3.171.18

14trains running at suitable times so you can catch connecting transport services3.181.32

15staff provides you the knowledge about the trains3.191.30

16frequency of trains that meets your need3.241.26

17seats are available on train3.261.29

18personal safety at train assured3.311.35

19dealing with you in a caring fashion when you make inquiries3.321.15

20Railway staff inform you if there is any delay3.331.32

21understanding your need when you make an inquiry3.351.16

22overall attitude of the staff3.361.12

23personal safety at station assured3.371.27

24chance of accidents3.391.29

25staff is willing to help you3.441.22

26traveling time on train is adequate3.441.24

27availability of staff in handling your requests3.471.16

28cleanliness of station3.471.24

29error-free information given in timetables3.481.23

30overall train appearance3.491.20

31having your best interests at heart3.491.18

32temperature is sizable on train3.531.17

33error-free timetables given at the station3.551.21

34dependability in handling your services problems3.560.98

35the ride is smooth on train3.591.15

36

cleanliness of train overall3.641.17

37performing services right at the first time3.661.07

38the frequency of trains are schedules according to the time table3.671.21

39station appearance is modern3.671.23

40the company provides on time train services3.691.07

41are they providing you a quick service3.691.08

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy..863

Bartlett's Test of SphericityApprox. Chi-Square7384.209

df820

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

12345678910

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 Assuranceloaded 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

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

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.

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