Measurement of the service quality in railway logistics: An application at a railway company in Aegean region

Railway transportation, which is relatively cheap, which can transport high volume goods to long distances, and which has a low risk of accidents, is a mode of transport that is becoming widespread after the Industrial Revolution. Even though Turkey attached importance to railway transportation with the proclamation of the republic, it was pushed into background due to increasing importance of road transportation with the help of Marshall Plan of USA, which is organized after WW2, in order to reconstruct Europe. With the help of Turkey's geostrategic position between Asia and Europe, our country increases the share of railway transportation in the international trade each passing day. However, in order to increase this share, service quality has a vital importance. After seeing that there are few studies in the literature on the service quality of the companies engaged in freight transportation by rail, it is decided to measure the customer perception of service quality of a company in the railway transportation sector, which is operating in Aegean Region. According to the findings obtained from the study, the perceived service quality of the company operating in the Aegean Region is lower than expected. In particular, the firm should go about improving its promises on time.