Development of Service Quality Indicator for Ethiopian Freight Railways
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Date
2014
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In this study I try to develop the specific item of the rail freight transportation of quality indicator
model which help to monitor, control and improve their service and competiveness. Indicator of
quality for any service organization is the decisive factor to create the difference and obtain
competitive advantage. The purpose of the study is making a model for rail freight quality
indicator may give the true picture about the short comings in Railway freight service.
The current article is to give a partial overview about experts/ specialist, importer/ exporter and
Freight transportation organization (company) survey results. This survey, conducted in the form
of a questionnaire, asked respondents to assign priority levels to forty four items considered to be
important in maintaining the quality of transportation services. The questionnaire for survey was
prepared after thorough deep Preliminary literature study. To this end, based on the result of the
survey, I carried out a factor analysis and attempt to reduce the number of variables. The data
obtained from the respondents are entered in the software SPSS sheet for calculating the
descriptive statistics. The study is based on empirical research.
Moreover the questionnaire-based survey proved that the following items are regarded as most
important for freight transportation. Those determinants are identified are Safety of cargoes
during transportation, Regularity of cargo arrival, Just-in-time delivery, Security of carriages,
Proper maintenance of the cargos, Availability of cargo handling equipment at loading points.
The findings are useful and applicable to most of railway country and the research findings may
be applicable for a new constriction of Ethiopian freight railways. Those important quality
indicators have emerged as an important framework in Ethiopia rail freight transportation
management. This framework can help define, monitor and manage high quality freight
transportation opportunities.
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Keywords
Service Quality, freight railways, quality indicator