Measuring the Efficiency of Rail Freight Transport – A Case Study

Abstract

Railway transport plays an important role in a country's economic development. Efficiency is one of the most significant performance indicators in the railway sector. Evaluating, monitoring, and improving efficiency is the main goal of every railway company. Different parametric and non-parametric approaches have been used in the literature and in practice to measure and compare the performance of railway companies. DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) is a non-parametric linear programming technique that is successfully used in evaluating and comparing the efficiency of entities in the service sector. Based on the DEA method, it can be determined whether the DMU units are inefficient compared to the efficient units. Also, it can be concluded how much it is necessary to reduce the input or increase the output for the units to become efficient. Four inputs and two output parameters were used during the measurement of the efficiency of freight rail transport in the Republic of Serbia for the period from 2011 to 2022.