Abstract. Passengers' transportation by rail involving various interested groups, such as managers, service staff and passengers, is a complicated process. Decision-making persons, organizing railway trips should take into account the interests, needs and possibilities of these particular groups. The solution to some problems associated with passengers' transportation by rail depends on the experience and qualification of decision-makers, people who are responsible for the effectiveness of this work. To increase the quality of railway trips, the interested parties, groups of people mentioned above, should coordinate their actions, cooperate with each other in solving the problems and exchange relevant information. Therefore, the increasing quality of passenger transportation is a complicated issue, requiring good professional skills based on knowledge, practical experience, high intellect and new ideas of all the people involved in this process. The current paper presents a diagram showing passenger's transportation quality with a number of criterion groups A, B, C, D matching the structure and numbers of the questions included in the questionnaires to survey respondents (passengers) and experts (service and administration staff of the train). What is more, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology based on the pair wise comparison of criteria is used to determine their weights (significances) considering the data obtained from the respondents and experts of each of three categories. Only these questionnaires which have no contradictory estimates are used. Also, the calculation methods demonstrating the results of the survey are provided in this work. One more point such as the data elicited from the respondents who took part in the survey (i.e. passengers from the train running on the international route Vilnius-Moscow) and experts (i.e. service staff of the already mentioned train and representatives of the administration staff from the Joint-Stock Company 'Lithuanian Railways' (AB ,,Lietuvos geležinkeliai")) is analyzed. Finally, the conclusions for improving the quality for passenger transportation by Lithuanian railways are given.

Th e transportation of passengers by railroads is a dynamic process because setting, wherein the process takes place, undergoes continuous changes observed at technical, technological and transportation process planning levels. Every passenger has diff erent needs and aims and can aff ord diff erent possibilities. Th erefore, the conception of quality diff ers in each individual case. In order to be able to plan a railway trip process in a proper manner, it is important to become familiarized with passenger needs and preferences and eliminate any existing defi ciencies. To this end, it is reasonable to conduct passenger surveys. Th e paper provides an affi nity diagram of railway transportation quality factors, the elements whereof correspond to the structure of the survey questionnaire. For determining the level of the quantitative signifi cance (weight) of indicators, there was applied the method of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) developed and introduced by the American scientist T. Saaty. Th e scope of research work carried out by the authors covered the determination of the highest eigenvalue, the compatibility ratio, the concordance correlation coeffi cient, the estimated and critical value of chi-square values (the examples of estimations are presented in the paper) as well as the classifi cation and processing of the surveyed data on passenger questionnaire and the analysis of respondents' opinion. Th e closing part of the paper presents conclusions drawn based on the fi ndings of the survey and respective recommendations for quality improvements in passenger transportation by Lithuanian railways.

The choice of a particular mode of transport as an alternative to another one is subjective and usually based on an individual passenger’s approach to the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of some particular means of transport. The paper presents the methods of analysing the reasons for passengers’ choice of travelling by train as an alternative to using air transport and the results obtained in the research. The 16 criteria (sub-criteria), describing the advantages of travelling by rail over air travel, are defined. The data of the survey questionnaire filled by 52 passengers of the Vilnius–Moscow train and the ranks assigned by them to the considered criteria are described. The average ranks of all 16 criteria and their normalized subjective weights are calculated by using a new method of average rank transformation into weight (ARTIW). The average ranks assigned by the passengers of the train to sub-criteria and the calculated global weights show what criteria are most important. Using the inverse hierarchy model based on the sub-criteria weights, the most and the least important groups of criteria are determined. The institutions and companies engaged in passenger transportation by rail, which give priority to improving the services described by the most important criteria, can make this mode of transport more attractive to people.

The significance of the criteria describing various aspects of travel by train, e.g. passenger transportation comfort, safety, travel time, price of a journey, etc., differs considerably. The quality of particular trains, track sections and staff performance can be successfully evaluated by a single number, using the comprehensive quality index (CQI). The paper offers an additive model to calculate the normalized weight coefficients of particular criteria for CQI calculation. A multi-criteria mathematical model, which may be used for evaluating the significance of the criteria describing organization and technology of travel by train for determining its quality, is also presented. Based on the nineteen adopted criteria (the criteria of group B), reflecting the organization and technology of travel by train, the quantitative estimate K B is obtained. Case studies of calculating the comprehensive quality index K B , describing the organization and technology of travel by the train 'Vilnius-Moscow' , which show the real quality of these processes, are presented. Finally, the conclusions based on the research results are provided.

The goals, needs and possibilities of interested parties (administration, service staff and passengers travelling in a train) should be taken into account when organizing passenger transportation and making decisions concerning particularly this area. Improvement in passenger transportation (train travel) depends on experience, qualification and decisions made by the experts involved in this process. The paper analyses the performance of the joint-stock company Lietuvos geležinkeliai and examines criteria describing the quality of passenger transportation provided by this organization. The article presents the methods for showing the consistency of respondent and expert judgements on ranking the sets of criteria defining the quality of travelling by train. The significance of the considered criteria is based on a pair wise comparison. The employed method allows for determining the normalized weights of particular criteria with respect to other criteria of the analysed group (A, B, C, D). The article offers an algorithm for displaying the quality of train travel. The ranks assigned to the criteria by train passengers (category K), service staff (category P) and administrative staff (category A) are calculated establishing the differences between the ranks of criteria. The opinions of the respondents and experts belonging to categories K, P and A are compared considering the significance of the adopted criteria. The paper provides the results obtained from the surveyed respondents and experts and presents the ranks given to criterion groups A, B, C, D describing the quality of train travel. Finally, the conclusions based on the performed research are presented.