EVALUATING THE RELATIVE EFFICIENCY OF RAILWAY OPERATIONS USING DATA ENVELOPMENT ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a non-parametric mathematical programming technique used to measure the relative efficiency of the production organization's operations. This paper presents the theoretical measures of efficiency, along with the bootstrap DEA analysis. The DEA model is applied to evaluate the relative efficiency of railway operations of 29 UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer) countries, based on data obtained from the International Union of Railways (UIC) publications. The bootstrap DEA analysis gives information (bias estimates) on the sensitivity of the DEA efficiency index to the sampling variations. The model results are analyzed and evaluated in terms of their relative operational performance efficiency. The model results facilitate an organization’s decision-making by providing valuable information.