Abstract:
Service quality result in higher levels of customer satisfaction increased patronage
intentions and sales. There are myriad of passenger complaints on the quality of on-
board rail catering services that affect customer satisfaction. The purpose of this study
was to investigate on-board rail catering service quality effects on customer
satisfaction in Madaraka express. The specific objective was to examine the effects of
on-board rail catering service reliability, tangibility, assurance and responsiveness on
customer satisfaction. The study was guided by SERVQUAL Model and employed
both descriptive and explanatory research designs. The target population was 603
customers while the sample size was 235 customers. Purposive sampling technique
was used to select passenger trains while simple random sampling was used to select
customers. The instrument for collecting data was structured questionnaires. Multiple
linear regression was used to analyze data and test the hypotheses. The regression
model coefficient determination of R2=.547, indicates that on-board rail catering
service quality explain 54.7% variation in customer satisfaction. Results revealed that
reliability (β= .551,p=0.001), responsiveness (β= .207, p=0.004) and tangibility (β=
.526, p=0.001) of on-board rail catering service had a positive significant effect on
customer satisfaction (p<.05) while assurance (β= .107, p=0.117) of on-board rail
catering service had a positive insignificant effect on customer satisfaction (p>.05).
The study concludes that reliability, responsiveness and tangibility affect customer
satisfaction while assurance does not affect. The study recommends improvement in
customer satisfaction by focusing on strategies to enhance reliability, responsiveness
and tangibility of services. Further recommendations include; monitoring systems
regularly and proactively to enhance reliability; improvement of seat arrangement and
spacing for better tangibility and dining experience especially in the economy class
and improve responsiveness through introduction of a dining coach in the economy
class for easy accessibility. The study is expected to benefit policy makers and
stakeholders in rail transport.
