3. Examining Effects of Introduction of Private Trains on Middle-Income Groups

The work aims to study the priority level of certain dimensions of railway services and the quality of services (expected in Private Trains) from the perspective of the passengers and their impact on the passenger's choice of Private Trains as their preferred mode of travel for mid-length (>400 km) journeys. Only policy research has been done on the privatization of Indian Railways and its consequences; this work can be seen as a continuation of those studies as it will uncover the perceived and desired priority level of important railway service dimensions expected on Private Trains. Although this is the main deliverable of this research, special attention is also given to tapping the passenger's current satisfaction level of services in Indian Railways. Additionally, the passenger response to Railways’ privatization worldwide has been studied. Within India itself, case studies of asset monetization of Indian Railways and public–private partnership (PPP) projects of governments and their outcomes have been discussed. An online survey was conducted to assess respondent’s current satisfaction levels with Indian railway services on a scale of 1 to 5. Respondents were asked to rate the perceived importance of several mentioned dimensions to be included in Private Trains in a separate section dedicated to them. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings of this study were consistent with the observed trend in other privatized sectors. People are dissatisfied with the current technological facilities, complaint handling, enquiry systems, etc. While the high-income group prefers to shift to low-cost carriers with increased train ticket prices, the middle- and lower-income groups can be retained if the price increase is supported with value addition in customer service and service efficiency. Safety and security remain the most prioritized dimensions, followed by on-board technological facilities. Liberalized government monopoly markets have seen customers associating increased importance on customer services/hospitality/customer relations.