309 International Journal for Traffic and Transport Engineering, 2015, 5(3): 309 - 318 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON PROVIDING THE SERVICE IN IC TRAINS BETWEEN REPUBLIC OF SLOVAKIA AND REPUBLIC OF CROATIA Borna Abramović 1 , Eva Nedeliakova 2 , Dinko Lukinić 3 1, 3 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia 2 University of Žilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Žilina, Slovakia Received 19 February 2015; accepted 9 July 2015 Abstract: In today’s liberalized market of passenger railway services are in use trains ranks. Train rank means a level of service that has applied on train. The highest ranks trains are Eurocity and Intercity. Eurocity trains generally connect major cities between at least two countries, while the Intercity trains typically connect important cities in a state. The survey is the standard way to examine passenger’s satisfaction. Therefore, this survey has been conducted in the Slovak and Croatian Intercity trains. Analysis of survey results show some strong and some weak points of each operator and the habits and opinions of the passengers. Based on the results of the survey, improvements are necessary in the punctuality, comfort and in providing Wi-Fi services. It is necessary to establish methods for developing services that will bring higher satisfaction of passengers as the final aim. Keywords: intercity trains, survey, passengers transport services, comfort, punctuality, frequency of use, alternative, staff, Wi-Fi service. 1 Corresponding author: babramovic@fpz.hr UDC: 656.222(437.6) 656.222(497.5) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7708/ijtte.2015.5(3).08 1. Introduction The first public passenger transport by railway has established on the line Stockton - Darlington in 1825 in the UK. Today, passenger railway has an important place in the offer of public transport, both in urban, suburban, domestic and international traffic. Particularly in the last few years there are very interesting research of the service quality in public transport, as well as in railway passengers transport. A comprehensive approach to conducting surveys for the purposes of transport planning is made in the book Survey Methods for Transport Planning by Richardson et al. (1995). Authors Dell’Olio et al. (2011) made a research how to use surveys to determine the desired level of service quality for users of public transport. Then authors Chang and Yeh (2002) made a very interesting research in the field of air transport about service quality on domestic flights using surveys. Also Dolinayova (2011) investigates factors and determinants of modal split in passenger transport. Then in the field of railway passenger traffic De Oña et al. (2014) using surveys did a research in the area of northern Italy, and with the help of a decision tree