SERVICE MARKETING
(A CASE STUDY OF NORTHERN RAILWAY)
DR. DALBIR SINGH KAUSHIK
Email id- kaushikdalbir@yahoo.com
The Indian Railways has emerged today as the main vehicle for socio-economic development of
the country. It is also one of the largest systems in the world. It contributes to India's economic
development, accounting for about one per cent of the GNP. It accounts for six per cent of the
total employment in the organized sector directly and an additional 2.5 per cent indirectly
through its dependent organizations. The Indian Railways, with nearly 63,000 route kilometres
fulfils the country's transport needs, particularly, in respect of long-distance passenger and
goods traffic. Indian railways run 7,500 passenger trains carry nearly 12 million passengers
every day. The present research tries to know the types and nature of services marketed and how
Northern Railway can improve its services to Cater the needs of customers/rail user’s by
matching with its service/product offered by it. The service sector if marketed in a right
direction contributes substantially to the process of economic development. The facts and figures
from the field survey reveals that respondent to the tune of 55.6% are very much satisfied and 24
% of the respondent are not satisfied with the services/ products provided by Northern Railway.
Key Words: Northern Railway, Economic Development, Service Sector,
Introduction
The Liberalization, privatization and globalization era has opened new areas for the
development of service generating organizations. The intensity of competition is found moving
upward. The service sector if marketed in a right direction contributes substantially to the
process of growth of development. The speed of socio-economic transformation can be increased
sizably if the innovative marketing strategies are practiced. In the years to come the service
sector would get a conducive environment with profitable opportunities. If we market the
services in a right direction the available opportunities can be capitalized optimally.
______________________________________________________________________________
*Associate Professor, Deptt.of Commerce,
Gaur Brahmin Degree College, M.D.
University, Rohtak-124001 Haryana (India)
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In the field of marketing four 4 Ps represent the seller’s perspective & from buyer’s
prospective, each marketing tool is defined to deliver a Customer’s. benefit.
The Service
provider corresponds to customer’s 4Ps are Customer Solution, Customer Cost, Customer
Convenience and Customer Communication. But Now a days, many developments have taken
place in transport industry. So the service sector if marketed in a right direction contributes
substantially to the process of development. The speed of Socio-Economic transformation can be
increased sizably if the innovative marketing principles are practiced.
Significance of the study
The number of developments have taken place in transport industry now a days. Growth
and developments in Indian Railways are moving very fast specially in the Northern Railway.
Modernization and technological up-gradation of its services have made the Northern Railway to
occupy the prime place in the Indian Railways. The present research tries to know the types and
nature of services marketed and how Northern Railway can improve its services to Cater the
needs of customers/rail users by matching with its service/product offered by it. The study on
Service marketing of Northern Railway is designed to focus attention on the users/customers and
the organizers with regards to product planning, promotional strategies, pricing strategies,
distribution channels, physical evidence, customer’s preference structure & the service
personnel. The present survey can help the Northern Railway for improving the service quality
and the level of services provided by it.

Northern Railway has been able to know more and more about the application of
marketing strategies to its services, for the purpose of attaining the organizational
objectives.

The Northern Railway will be able to distinguish its strengths and weaknesses and thereby reduce its weaknesses.
In this survey, the researcher tried to give suitable recommendations for the application of
marketing strategies to the application of marketing of Northern Railway. He also tried to show
the practical and scientific solutions for improving the services marketing of Northern Railway.
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The main emphasis of this study is on the application of marketing strategies to Northern
Railway services and evaluation of services marketing.
Objective of this Study

To identify the customer needs, expectations and problem of services offered by the
Northern Railway.

To know the pattern of services availed by the public at large.

To find out the dissatisfied customers, so that better services recovery can be attempted.

To evaluate the strategies adopted by the Northern Railway in improving the services
offered.
Scope and Limitation of the study
The demand and expectations of customers are increasing day by the day. The Indian
Railways are expected to and are trying to make all efforts to reach the Northern side of the
Country to cater the needs of customers particularly in rural areas. The scope of the study does
not permit the inclusion of all Zones. Therefore scope of the study is limited to Northern Railway
Zone only.
Research methodology
The research study is based on the data collected by research investigator from primary
and secondary sources. The primary sources of data include data collection through structured
interview schedule, personal observation and formal discussion with the rail users in the
Northern zones such as Rohtak, Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala.
Sample size
Sr. No.
Area
Sample Size
1
Rohtak
100
2
Panipat
100
3
Karnal
100
4
Kurukshetra
100
5
Ambala
100
Total
500
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This is exploratory and analytical case study. 500 Customers/Rail Users from different
classes of People such as Students, Businessman, Agriculturists, and employees were selected
from the Northern Area of the Country such as Rohtak, Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and
Ambala. The secondary sources of data includes reports published by Northern Railways,
General Manager’s Annual Reports, Indian Railway Annual Reports, Year Books, Magazine,
pamphlets and other publications by the Zonal Office. The data is also extracted from the
Railway Section’s Officers of Northern Railway.
Table 1: Showing different Railway Zones of Indian Railway.
Sr.
Name
Abb.
Established
No.
1
Route
H.Q
Divisions
Mumbai
Mumbai,
KMs
Central
CR
1951
3905
Railway
2
Pune Solapur, Nagpur
Eastern
ER
1952
2435
Kolkata
Railway
3
Bhusawal,
Howrah,
Sealdah,
Asansol, Malda
North
NER
1952
3712
Gorakhpur
Eastern
Izzantnagar, Lucknow,
Varansi
Railway
4
Northern
NR
1952
6968
Delhi
Railway
Delhi,
Ambala,
Firozpur,
Lucknow,
Moradabad
5
Southern
SR
1951
5098
Chennai
Railway
Chennai,
Tiruchirappalli,
Madurai,
Palakkad,
Salem
6
Western
WR
1951
6440
Railway
Mumbai
Mumbai
Central,
Ratlam,
Ahmedabad,
Rajkot,
Bhavnager,
Vadodara
Source: Ministry of Railway, Indian Railway’s year Book.
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Table No. 2 showing the demographic profile of respondents.
(Total No. of Respondents = 500, i.e.100%)
Demographic
Variable
Age
Gender
Education
Occupation
Income
Categories
15-20 years
21-25 years
26-35 years
36-45 years
46-55 years
Over 55 years
Male
Female
Secondary School or Lower
High School
Diploma
Certificate
Bachelor
Master or Higher
Student
Under graduate
Employee/Private
Company Employee
Government Employee/Official/State
Less than 5000
5000-10000
10000-15000
15000-20000
20000-25000
25000-30000
More than 30000
Source: Personal/Field Survey.
Freq.
%age
80
135
189
71
15
10
186
314
104
92
212
48
28
36
126
129
183
20
42
230
94
56
38
28
32
22
Table: 3 Showing Service Satisfactions
Opinions
Very Much Satisfied
Not Satisfied
Can’t Say
Total
Number
278
120
102
500
Source: Personal/ field survey
5
%
55.6
24.0
20.4
100
16
27
37.8
14.2
3
2
37.2
62.8
20.8
18.4
42.4
9.6
5.6
7.2
25.2
25.8
36.6
4
8.4
46
18.8
11.2
7.6
5.6
6.4
4.4
Table 4: Showing Level of awareness
Sr.no Attributes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Aware
(%)
Accommodation
171
Tour Package
120
Catering Service including Rail Neer
289
Facilities to disabled passengers
67
Pilgrim special tourist train
59
Customized Package
104
National train enquiry system (NTES)
302
The software aided train scheduling and Network
42
governance(SAT Sa NG)
Passenger reservation system (PRS)
329
Unreserved Ticketing system (UTS)
272
Source: Personal/ field survey
34.2
24
57.8
13.4
11.8
20.8
60.4
8.4
Not
aware
(%)
329 (65.8)
380 (76)
211 (42.2)
433 (86.6)
441 (88.2)
396 (79.2)
198 (39.6)
458 (91.6)
65.8 171 (34.2)
54.4 228 (45.6)
Total
(%)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
500(100)
Table 5 Showing problems faced by the respondents
Sr.no
1
2
3
4
5
6
Nature of Problem
Lack of adequate Knowledge
Technological complexities
Financial risk/Frauds
Weak support system
Non caring attitude of employees
Miscellaneous
Source: Personal/ field survey
No. of Respondent
461
502
497
468
558
639
(Total number of respondents exceeds more than 500 because some of the respondents
cited more than one problem faced by them.)
Statement of the Problem
There has been a phenomenal growth in the movement of men, machine and materials.
The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors are witnessing radical changes. The product
development strategy would make possible equilibrium between the transportation, demand and
supply. Transport facilities help greatly in widening the size of the market. The widening of the
size of the market rests on the creation of a network of transport and communication. In a
developing country like India, it is very much significant that policy decisions are made keeping
in view the needs and requirements of both general customers and the industrial users.
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Findings of the study
The Northern Railway has been acknowledged as one of the best zone of Indian
Railways. Yet it suffers from many deficiencies revealed from the study in some sectors which
are as follows:














The project investigator has found that the rail users are the least awarded persons
as far as the pilgrim’s special tourist train (88.2%) and the software aided train
scheduling and network governance (91.6%) is concerned.
The investigator has found that catering services (52.8%) and the personal
reservation (65.8%) is the most awared service among the rail users.
The facts and figures from the field survey reveal that facilities to disabled
passenger provided by northern railway is familiar among rail users ie 13.4%
respondents are awared while 86.6 % of the respondents are not awared about
this facility.
The respondents to the tune of 55.6% are very much satisfied and 24 % of the
respondents are not satisfied with the services provided by northern railway.
The study reveals that the non- carying attitude of the employees (558),
technological complexities (502) and financial frauds (497) is the most common
problems faced by the rail users.
Most of the advertisement of Northern railway is focused on special themes but it
needs to lay more stress service delivery aspect.
The Northern Railway is more products oriented than customer oriented.
Marketing is peripheral activity and the commercial department is engaged
limited up to selling products.
The promotional method adopted to convey the availability of various services is
inadequate to persuade the rail users.
Inadequate delegation of power and concentration of authority with the Ministry
and railway board are serious drags on speedy and efficient disposal of services.
There is deficiency in customer service skills among the personnel at the enquiry
counters.
Costumer -focus is missing and customer satisfaction is not and organizational
mission and vision.
There is discrepancy between service delivery and service promises made.
The advertisement released by Northern Railway is neither attractive nor creative
enough concerned messages, appeals and slogans to become effective in
informing serving and persuading the rail users.
Although ‘Clean train stations’ has been launched to provide mechanized
cleaning to passing through trains during their halts but this is still inadequate of
en-route cleaning of trains.
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
Lack of punctuality of mail/ express trains (arriving at destinations) inspite of
having computer based on- line system for analyzing the punctuality performance.
Recommendations
The following are some major recommendations based on the research investigation and
personal enquiry notes:














Passengers reservation system(PRS) may be provided to many more location/ stations
More accommodation facilities be arranged for rail users.
A Major thrust to improve the catering facilities provided by Northern Railway as the rail
users are making a number of complaints for under nutritious and low quality food.
The Northern railway should put stress more on advertising related pilgrims special train
as this facility is the least awared among the respondents.
More and more enquiry counters should be opened with skilled personnel to guide the
rail users properly.
Decentralization policy should be adopted by the Northern Railway to settle the disputes
on the spot faced by the rail users.
WI-FI facilities be provided free of cost at the prominent places as well as in specific
coaches/Train.
Frequency of trains be increased on those routes where the mobility of the passenger is
more.
Integrate the supportive function i.e. catering, selling of publications, vending at railway
platforms into high performance core processes.
The railways, in view of severe financial crunch, must explore the possibility of attracting
direct foreign investment and joint ventures similar to Konkan Railways.
The railway should develop an efficient professionally managed system particularly in
areas concerning passenger’s safety measures, welfare measures etc.
With a view to provide better passenger amenities, the outlay in the budget may be
enhanced.
It is also imperative for the northern to practice “Bench- Marketing” in order to sharpen
its marketing strategy.
The Indian railways adopt the Kaizen strategy, which links the human resources strategy
to the business strategy for developing their employee as winning employees.
The Northern Railway should adopt the marketing concepts rather than merely serviceorientation so that the Northern Railway may be come customer-focused organization.
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References
1. Amba Prasad, “ Indian Railways”- A study of Public Utility Administration, Asia
Publishing House, Bombay, 1960.
2. South Central Railway General Manager’s Annual Report 1998-99.
3. Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways yearbook 1989-90 to 1999-2000.
4. Jagit Singh, “The Story of our Railways”, National Book Trust of India, New Delhi,
1989.
5. Kosteck M.M.(ed.), “Marketing Strategies for services” ,Oxford: Pergmon Press, 1994.
6. Krishna Mohan V., “Services Marketing – A study of Marketing Operations of Indian
Railways”, Ph.D. Thesis, Andhra University, Waltam, 1992.
7. www.http://cris.org
8. www.irctctourism.com/egi-bin/dev1.dll/irctic/services/vatServicesNTerms.do
9. www.indianrail.gov.in
10. indianrail.gov.in /pnr/enq.html
11. https:/irctc.co.in
12. www.cleartrip.com/m/trains
13. indianrailinfo.com
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