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A multi-criteria decision making approach to evaluating the performance of Indian railway zones

Author

Listed:
  • Esther Jose

    (University at Buffalo)

  • Puneet Agarwal

    (California Polytechnic State University)

  • Jun Zhuang

    (University at Buffalo)

  • Jose Swaminathan

    (Vellore Institute of Technology)

Abstract

The Indian Railways is India’s biggest employer and undeniably influences the country’s transportation network, economy, and social and cultural systems. The network is split into zones for operational reasons. It is vital to evaluate these railway networks to identify their strengths and shortcomings and to improve their performance. Past works often use Data Envelopment Analysis to evaluate railway services. Our contribution lies in the inclusion of several aspects not previously considered, such as (i) both tangible and intangible criteria, (ii) the hierarchical nature of the problem, and (iii) additional useful criteria and data to analyze the performance of the zones, including physical assets, operating ratio, accidents, comfort, travel experience, flexibility, transparency, etc. We use the novel Hierarchical Fuzzy Axiomatic Design method to evaluate the performance of sixteen zones in the Indian Railways since it suits our problem well. We find that the Southern Railway zone performs best, while the Northeast Frontier zone is ranked last. We also identify the strengths and weaknesses of all railway zones.

Suggested Citation

  • Esther Jose & Puneet Agarwal & Jun Zhuang & Jose Swaminathan, 2023. "A multi-criteria decision making approach to evaluating the performance of Indian railway zones," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 325(2), pages 1133-1168, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:325:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10479-022-04866-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-022-04866-2
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