Consumer Behaviour towards EMU Trains:TAMBARAM Railway Station: with Questionnaire

Indian Railways…. the golden Era

16th April, 1853……………The Beginning

The first railway on Indian sub-continent ran over a stretch of 21 miles from Bombay to Thane.

The idea of a railway to connect Bombay with Thane, Kalyan and with the Thal and Bhore Ghats inclines first occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government, during a visit to Bhandup in 1843.

The formal inauguration ceremony was performed on 16th April 1853, when 14 railway carriages carrying about 400 guests left Bori Bunder at 3.30 pm “amidst the loud applause of a vast multitude and to the salute of 21 guns.” The first passenger train steamed out of Howrah station destined for Hooghly, a distance of 24 miles, on 15th August, 1854. Thus the first section of the East Indian Railway was opened to public traffic, inaugurating the beginning of railway transport on the Eastern side of the sub-continent.

In south the first line was opened on Ist July, 1856 by the Madras Railway Company. It ran between Veyasarpandy and Walajah Road (Arcot), a distance of 63 miles. In the North a length of 119 miles of line was laid from Allahabad to Kanpur on 3rd March 1859. The first section from Hathras Road to Mathura Cantonment was opened to traffic on 19th October, 1875.

These were the small beginnings which is due course developed into a network of railway lines all over the country. By 1880 the Indian Railway system had a route mileage of about 9000 miles.

INDIAN RAILWAYS, the premier transport organisation of the country is the largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest under one management.

Indian Railways is a multi-gauge, multi-traction system covering the following:

Track Kilometres	Broad Gauge (1676 mm)	Metre Gauge (1000 mm)	Narrow Gauge (762/610 mm)	Total
	86,526	18,529	3,651	108,706
Route Kilometres	Electrified	Total
	16,001	63,028

7566 -  locomotives	37,840  -  Coaching vehicles	222,147 -  Freight wagons	6853  -  Stations
300  – Yards	2300  -  Goodsheds	700  -  Repair shops	1.54 million – Work force

Indian Railways runs around 11,000 trains everyday, of which 7,000 are passenger trains.

Chennai suburban railways

• 1 Routes
  • 1.1 Central – Avadi – Tiruvallur – Arakkonam – Thiruttani
  • 1.2 Central – Thiruvottiyur – Ennore – Ponneri – Gummidipoondi – Sulurpet
  • 1.3 Beach – Egmore – Mambalam – Guindy – Meenambakkam – Tambaram
  • 1.4 MRTS

• Beach – Egmore – Mambalam – Guindy – Meenambakkam – Tambaram
• Stations: Chennai Beach – Chennai Fort – Park – Chennai Egmore – Chetpet – Nungambakkam – Kodambakkam – Mambalam – Saidapet – Guindy – St. Thomas Mount – Pazhavanthangal – Meenambakkam – Trisulam – Pallavaram – Chromepet – Tambaram Sanatorium – Tambaram – Perungalathur-Vandalur-Urapakkam-Guduvancheri-Potheri-Kattangulathur-Maraimalai Nagar Kamarajar-Singaperumal Koil-Paranur-Chengalpattu-Villiambakkam-Palur-Palayasivaram-Walajabad- Nathapettai-Kanchipuram-Tirumalpur-Thakolam-Arakkonam

Scope of project

This project gave us great exposure to the customer’s perception, because it includes the service offered. This project helped us in knowing the market practically.

Our job

1. Drafting questionnaire for the better understanding of passengers satisfaction level
2. Collection of data on passenger traffic on weekdays and on weekends.
3. Check the availability of prominent display boards at railway stations.
4. Finding out the problems that the commuters are facing while travelling.

Key findings:-

1. By calculating the number of responses, we found that most of the people were satisfied with the timings of train services (Beach-Tambaram route).
2. Possession of monthly passes by the commuters indicated clearly, that bulk of them were strongly brand loyal.
3. We also came to know while visiting the stations, that there was big problem of less number of ticket counters.
4. Many commuters were facing the problem of wooden seats, which were very uncomfortable.
5. As there were good number of coaches where the seating capacity is more plying on the Beach-Tambaram route, travelling during peak hour time was a nightmare.

SWOT

STRENGTH

l  Indian railways is a 100% Government of India owned organization

l  Exhaustive railway network across the country

l  Dedicated workforce

l  Strong financial backing

l  This year’s profit rose to Rs 20,000 crores

l  Service reliability

WEAKNESS

l  Conflict between railway unions and employees

l  Delay in getting approvals and funds for new proposals

OPPORTUNITIES

l  Strong possibility for railways to capture 90% of container traffic

l  With the airline industry facing severe crisis, Indian railways can encash on this opportunity

l  By offering air-conditioned coaches in the local trains, they can target the upper segment of the market

THREATS

l  The possible threats are from the taxi service

l  Weak infrastructure and no up-gradation of stations

l  Absence of passenger facility will drive away the customer to private modes of transport

VISION:

To serve the customers with a smile and let them assure of excellent services.

GROWTH STRATEGY

Fast innovation, Fast growth”

SLOGAN

“Serving customers with a smile”

Why the brand is recognized?

1. Monopoly in the market

l  Suburban railway network of 147 Km

l  81 stations

l  Daily patronage of over 4.7 lakh passengers

l  Proposed extension of MRTS line from Velachery to Saint Thomas Mount

2. Customer loyalty

l  Ever increasing number of commuters taking suburban trains.

l  Availability of VLR stalls at railway stations for refreshment.

l  Book stalls

l  Customized ticket vending machines

l  Hassle free journey, free from any type of pollution.

3. Longevity

l  Provision of a fast and efficient transport service

l  Helps to establish new communities along the routes of railways

4. Overall market acceptance

l  Public have developed “patterns of behavior” (i.e. vicarious learning).

l  EMUs has become a part of commuters daily life

l  Efficiency in service has been at the forefront for market acceptance

5. Goodwill

l  Suburban trains are operating for the past decades

l  These services offered by Southern Railway has been always praised for its on time performance

Objective of the project

Ø The main objective of field survey during the project was to find out the commuters satisfaction level of the services offered by Southern Railways.

Ø The other objective of the research was to identify the other needs of commuters with respect to number of trains plying on Beach-Tambaram route.

Secondary objective

Ø Do the commuters prefer the new ticket vending machines installed at various suburban stations?

Ø How frequently commuters complain against the deficiency in train services?

Research Methodology:

Research methodology is considered as the nerve of the project. Without a proper well-organized research plan, it is impossible to complete the project and reach to any conclusion. The project was based on the survey plan. The main objective of survey was to collect appropriate data, which work as a base for drawing conclusion and getting result.

Therefore, research methodology is the way to systematically solve the research problem. Research methodology not only talks of the methods but also logic behind the methods used in the context of a research study and it explains why a particular method has been used in the preference of the other methods.

Research design:

Research design is important primarily because of the increased complexity in the market as well as marketing approaches available to the researchers. In fact, it is the key to the evolution of successful marketing strategies and programmers. It is an important tool to study buyer’s behaviour, consumption pattern, brand loyalty, and focus market changes. A research design specifies the methods and procedures for conducting a particular study. According to Kerlinger, “Research Design is a plan, conceptual structure, and strategy of investigation conceived as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance.

Types of research is:

• Descriptive Research

The type of research adopted for study is descriptive. Descriptive studies are undertaken in many circumstances when the researches is interested to know the characteristic of certain group such as age, sex, education level, occupation or income. A descriptive study may be necessary in cases when a researcher is interested in knowing the proportion of people in a given population who have in particular manner, making projections of a certain thing, or determining the relationship between two or more variables. The objective of such study is to answer the “who, what, when, where and how” of the subject under investigation. There is a general feeling that descriptive studies are factual and very simple. This is not necessarily true. Descriptive study can be complex, demanding a high degree of scientific skill on part of the researcher.

Descriptive studies are well structured. An exploratory study needs to be flexible in its approach, but a descriptive study in contrast tends to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed every now and then. It is therefore necessary, the researcher give sufficient thought to framing research.

Questions and deciding the types of data to be collected and the procedure to be used in this purpose.

Descriptive studies can be divided into two broad categories: Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Sectional. A cross sectional study is concerned with a sample of elements from a given population. Thus, it may deal with household, dealers, retail stores, or other entities. Data on a number of characteristics from sample elements are collected and analyzed. Cross sectional studies are of two types: Field study and Survey. Although the distinction between them is not clear- cut, there are some practical differences, which need different techniques and skills. Field studies are ex-post-factor scientific inquiries that aim at finding the relations and interrelations among variables in a real setting. Such studies are done in live situations like communities, schools, factories, and organizations.

Another type of cross sectional study is survey result, which has been taken by me. A major strength of survey research is its wide scope. Detail information can be obtained from a sample of large population .Besides; it is economical as more information can be collected per unit of cost. In addition, it is obvious that a sample survey needs less time than a census inquiry. Descriptive research includes survey and fact finding enquiries of different kinds of the major purpose. Descriptive research is description of the state of affairs, as it exists at present. The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or what is happening. The methods of research utilized in descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds including comparative and co relational methods. The reason for using such needs to be flexile in its approach, but a descriptive study in contrast tends to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed ever now and then.

TAMBARAM RAILWAY STATION

Data collection methods:

After the research problem, we have to identify and select which type of data is to research. At this stage; we have to organize a field survey to collect the data. One of the important tools for conducting market research is the availability of necessary and useful data.

Primary data: For primary data collection, we have to plan the following four important aspects.

Ø Sampling

Ø Research Instrument

Ø Secondary Data – Indian Railways profile, journals and various literature studies are important sources of secondary data.

Ø Data analysis and interpretation

1. Questionnaires
2. Pie chart and Bar chart

Questionnaires:

This is the most popular tool for the data collection. A questionnaire contains question that the researcher wishes to ask his respondents which is always guided by the objective of the survey.

Pie chart:

This is very useful diagram to represent data, which are divided into a number of categories. This diagram consists of a circle of divided into a number of sectors, which are proportional to the values they represent. The total value is represented by the full create. The diagram bar chart can make comparison among the various components or between a part and a whole of data.

Bar chart:

This is another way of representing data graphically. As the name implies, it consist of a number of whispered bar, which originate from a common base line and are equal widths. The lengths of the bards are proportional to the value they represent.

Preparation of report:

The report was based on the analysis and presented with the findings and suggestions. The sample of the questionnaires is attached with the report itself.

Sampling Methodology:

Details of the sampling methodology, we have made questionnaire. The one is made for the Commuters.

1. No. of questions in questionnaires for customer:                              07
2. No. of question related to services offered:                              05
3. No. of respondents during the research:                                            15

Sample unit

Professionals, Business man,

Employees, Students

Analysis:

Q1. How long you’re using the EMU service?

a)     Less than a year

b)    1-5 years

c) >5 years                  

INFERENCES:

1. Majority of the commuters has been using the EMU service for 1-5 years.
2. It shows that the faith imposed with EMU by the commuters and people are loyal to EMU services.

Q.2. From which source station to destination do you commute?

Inference: As the field survey was mainly focussed on commuters in beach tambaram sector, so lot of them were daily commuters from the stations lying in between.

Q.3. According to you EMU service between Beach-Tambaram is

a)     Excellent

b)    Very good

c)     Good

d)    Fair

e)     Poor

INFERENCES: Overall majority of the commuters rated the EMU services between Beach-Tbm sector as good. This speaks volumes about the services offered by the Southern Railways.

Q. 4. You commute daily with

a)     With a monthly pass

b)    Buying tickets

c)     Without ticket

INFERENCES:

1. Maximum number of commuters prefers to travel by taking the monthly pass issued by the railways, as it proves to be lot cheaper than buying tickets daily.
2. Rest of them were buying tickets on daily or occasional basis, as they were occasional travellers.
3. This shows that Indian Railways gives special preference to their regular customers.

Q.5.The level of satisfaction you get from EMU services

a)     Highly satisfied

b)    Somewhat satisfied

c)     Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

d)    Dissatisfied

e)     Highly dissatisfied

INFERENCES:

1. As per our survey, majority of the commuters were somewhat satisfied and none of them were highly dissatisfied.
2. Next majority were those commuters who were highly satisfied.
3. This analysis clearly indicates that, railways need to do little improvements and the services will be upto the mark.

1. Q.5.Tick the appropriate column

SERVICE

a)     Excellent

b)    Good

c)     Fair

d)    Bad

e)     Very bad

TIMING

a)     Excellent

b)    Good

c)     Fair

d)    Bad

e)     Very bad

PRICE

a)     Excellent

b)    Good

c)     Fair

d)    Bad

e)     Very bad

PERFORMANCE

a)     Excellent

b)    Good

c)     Fair

d)    Bad

e)     Very bad

• Most of the commuters said that the service provided by railways is excellent and none of them termed it as bad.
• Timing aspect of trains was rated well by majority of the commuters.
• Majority of the commuters said that the performance of EMU’s is excellent.
• Almost all the commuters said that the pricing strategy is excellent by the railways.

Q.6 Which is the best way to commute in Chennai City? (Rank your choice from the list)

a)     EMU

b)    MTC

c)     Own vehicle

d)    MRTS

e)     Cycle

INFERENCE

1. Almost all of the commuters preferred EMU trains over any other means of transport.
2. Usually the buses are crowded and people throng local trains.

Q.7.State your opinion about

I)  Cleanliness at the station premises:

a)     Excellent

b)    Very Good

c)     Good

d)    Fair

e)     Poor

II) Availability of ticket counters

a)     Excellent

b)    Very Good

c)     Good

d)    Fair

e)     Poor

III) Prompt services

a)     Excellent

b)    Very Good

c)     Good

d)    Fair

e)     Poor

IV) Quality of refreshment stalls

a)     Excellent

b)    Very Good

c)     Good

d)    Fair

e)     Poor

INFERENCE:

• Majority of the commuters said the cleanliness at the station is excellent.
• Whereas majority of them were not satisfied with the number of ticket counters.
• Almost all of them rated the quality of refreshment stalls were poor or fair.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Railways have been at the forefront in transporting people to their respective workplaces and to their leisure destinations. Moreover there are some loopholes which need to be plugged in. Few recommendations:

• Efforts should be made to increase the number of ticket counters.
• The number of refreshment stalls has to increase, in order to cater to the growing needs of the commuters.
• The frequency of train services during peak hours has to increase.
• Railways can introduce the facility of reservation of tickets in local trains in order to serve the needs of those commuters who commute on long routes.

LIMITATIONS

Every study has certain limitations. In my study, also there were certain limitations, which we could not able to solve.

• Since, it was a mini project so the time available for this project was very less and this was our major constraint.
• The number of people interviewed was very meagre, so there could be little variation in the results.
• The sample size is also very small which represent my research on consumer behaviour.

Consumer survey Questionnaire

Respondent:

Name:

Age:

Sex:

Qualification:

Occupation:

Income:  <5000      5000-10000       10000-20000      >20000

Q1. How long you’re using the EMU service?

c)     Less than a year

d)    1-5 years

c) >5 years                  

Q.2. From which source station to destination do you commute?

From                                                          To

Q.3. According to you EMU service between Beach-Tambaram is

f)      Excellent

g)     Very good

h)    Good

i)       Fair

j)       Poor

Q. 4. You commute daily with

d)    With a monthly pass

e)     Buying tickets

f)      Without ticket

Q.5.The level of satisfaction you get from EMU services

f)      Highly satisfied

g)     Somewhat satisfied

h)    Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

i)       Dissatisfied

j)       Highly dissatisfied

If you’re highly dissatisfied, state the reason why:

1. Q.5.Tick the appropriate column

SERVICE

f)      Excellent

g)     Good

h)    Fair

i)       Bad

j)       Very bad

TIMING

f)      Excellent

g)     Good

h)    Fair

i)       Bad

j)       Very bad

PRICE

f)      Excellent

g)     Good

h)    Fair

i)       Bad

j)       Very bad

PERFORMANCE

f)      Excellent

g)     Good

h)    Fair

i)       Bad

j)       Very bad

Q.7. Which is the best way to commute in Chennai City? (Rank your choice from the list)

f)      EMU

g)     MTC

h)    Own vehicle

i)       MRTS

j)       Cycle

Q.7.State your opinion about

I)  Cleanliness at the station premises:

f)      Excellent

g)     Very Good

h)    Good

i)       Fair

j)       Poor

II) Availability of ticket counters

f)      Excellent

g)     Very Good

h)    Good

i)       Fair

j)       Poor

III) Prompt services

f)      Excellent

g)     Very Good

h)    Good

i)       Fair

j)       Poor

IV) Quality of refreshment stalls

f)      Excellent

g)     Very Good

h)    Good

i)       Fair

j)       Poor

Popularity: 12% [?]

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Tags: Analysis, Bar Chart, Brand, Chennai, Cleanliness, Commute, Consumer Behaviour, Cycle, Descriptive Research, EMU Trains, Growth Strategy, Indian Railways, Inferences, Limitation, Monoploy, MRTS, MTC, Objective, Performance, Pie Chart, Price, Primary Data, Prompt Service, Questionnaires, Questions, Recommendation & Suggetion, Refreshment Stalls, Research Design, Research Instrument, Research Methodology, Sampling, Sampling Methodology, Scope, Secondary Data, Service, Slogan, SWOT, Tambaram Station, Ticket Counters, Timing, Vision