A methodology for evaluating satisfaction with high-speed train services: A case study in Turkey

Customer satisfaction is a prominent aspect of customer-oriented transportation services. To increase the quality of service and customer satisfaction, it is important to measure how the service provided is perceived and to determine customers' expectations and demands. In 2009, the Turkish Republic State Railways (known as TCDD in Turkey), which provide railway transportation services in Turkey, started High Speed Train (HST) transportation services. HSTs are comfortable and technologically modern transportation vehicles that attract both current and potential customers. Since 2009, efforts have been made to expand HST services to other cities. The current HST service between the cities of Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey can be used as a model to evaluate customer satisfaction and quality of service during the development of additional HST services between other cities. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to create a mathematical model to determine which areas of service influenced customers' views and satisfaction regarding HST services in Turkey and the magnitude of contribution of these factors to overall satisfaction. Thus, factor analysis was conducted to determine the relevant factors affecting satisfaction with HST services. A mathematical model was then created with the help of factor scores. As residual outliers were found during the creation of the model in both the x and y directions, certain bounded influence estimators resistant to outliers in both directions were proposed for the estimation of model parameters. The mathematical models established in this study enabled the analysis of the influence of advertisements and information services, food service, physical conditions, the attitudes and behavior of personnel on customers' overall satisfaction with HST services.