How to sustainably improve passenger satisfaction of high-speed rail in China? A text mining and product service system integrated approach

Qiang Yang, Meng Liu, Zhen-Song Chen, Wan-Mei Yan, Wen-Hui Jiang and Muhammet Deveci

Transport Policy, 2025, vol. 168, issue C, 244-262

Abstract: The improvement of high-speed rail (HSR) passenger satisfaction from an integrated perspective of product and service is crucial for advancing several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, including Good Health and Well-being, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and Sustainable Cities and Communities. As a critical and promising mode of public passenger transportation, ensuring the sustainable development of HSR in China necessitates a significant focus on improving passenger satisfaction. This paper presents a systematic framework from the perspective of Product-Service System (PSS) configuration, encompassing key components such as the identification and prioritization of critical passenger requirements, the prioritization of service quality improvement measures, and the optimal allocation of limited resource. Specifically, the framework involves the following steps: Firstly, text mining of social media online-reviews is utilized for the identification of key passenger requirements. Secondly, an improved Best-Worst Method under basic uncertain linguistic information environments (BULI-BWM) is employed to determine the importance of these requirements. Thirdly, an extended Quality Function Deployment (QFD) under uncertain information environments is applied to derive and prioritize service quality improvement measures. Finally, a nonlinear goal optimization model is proposed to optimize resource allocation with the aim of maximizing the level of passenger satisfaction improvement. This research, driven by a fusion of social media data, expert knowledge and experience, reveals six key passenger requirements, with current passenger concerns focusing on reliable train operations, ticket price & availability, and riding convenience. Furtherly, six targeted service improvement measures are proposed, along with optimal resource configurations to achieve the maximum improvement of passenger satisfaction levels. The findings provide practical suggestions and effective support for operational decision-making by HSR service operators and designers.

Keywords: High-speed rail; Passenger satisfaction; Online reviews analysis; Product-service system; Quality function deployment; Basic uncertain linguistic information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2025.04.007

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