Service Gap Analysis of Indian Railways in Trivandrum and Ernakulam Districts

Abstract

Indian Railways is the largest rail network in Asia and world’s second largest under a single management. This study aims to identify the perception and expectation level of the passengers towards the service provider in Trivandrum and Ernakulum districts and to identify relative importance of service quality dimensions rated by the passengers. Descriptive research was adopted and the Multistage Area sampling was constructed by taking a series of simple random samples in various stages. A structured questionnaire developed by the researcher and primary data is collected through interview scheduling method. The overall opinion towards service provider in Ernakulum and Trivandrum districts are satisfied by the passengers. By applying the gap analysis, it shows that lowest service gap is occurred in “assurance†and “reliability†dimension and little bigger service gap is occurred in the “tangibility†dimension. The empirical investigation study is able to accomplish research objectives, by thoroughly analyzed and identified competitive position of railways strengths and weaknesses among the passengers.