Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight

Question

Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.

toshio86 · Accepted Answer

Because the text does not mention how much the two services have in common, while choice A says that they have little in common...this assumption goes too far, since they could have a lot in common but a few differences that make it difficult to serve both.

C is perfect, since the text states that if they serve both they cannot serve them well, therefore they have to serve only one to be successful. This means that to be successful they must serve them well.

KissGMAT · Answer

Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.
For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?
 Using the Causal Effect. The assumption highlights that the cause( serving one customer well) is the only cause for the effect ( sucessful business)

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other. so ? 
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business. priority is not being talked about 
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business. yes 
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business. no  
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well. no . Basically any one of two should be well served

Mahmud6 · Answer

Let me try to simplify the choice C.

Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.---> To be a successful business, railroad needs to serve its customers well. By negating this statement we get,  to be a successful business, railroad   DOES NOT   need to serve its customers well.  Is it? So, conclusion falls apart.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Prem :
When a train service does both commuter and freight service, it serves neither customer particularly well.

Conc:
If a train service wants to be successful, it must concentrate exclusively on one.

I hope that when you reach the conclusion you would notice the "new guy" ... i.e., successful business?

The correct answer is going to have to define what's required of a "successful business", because that's what the conclusion is claiming and the author never gave us any rules/definitions of "successful business".

So just a quick scan eliminates (A) and (E), since they don't address the "new guy".

Why does the author think the current way ISN'T a successful business --- the only thing that sounds like a negative about the current way is that the railroad doesn't serve either customer base particularly well.

So that's the gap we need to connect: "not serving your customers well" and "not being a successful business".

(A) "little in common" is too extreme ... they could be very similar but still stretch a business too thin to treat customers well

(B) "first priority" is too extreme ... the first priority could be "don't kill any passengers" but this argument would still make sense.

(D) Not only does this arbitrarily pick commuter rather than freight, it also shifts from saying "picking one of the two" is NECESSARY to success to "picking one of the two" is SUFFICIENT for success.

(E) "rarely" is too extreme ... it wouldn't matter if commuters frequently wanted freight service also, it could still be true that a railroad does a poor job of both and thereby frustrates the same customer twice.

KarishmaB · Answer

This is a typical assumption question.

Premises:
Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. 
By serving both, it serves neither particularly well.

Conclusion: if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

Note the gap even before going to the options: The premises say that the railroad is not able to serve its customers well. The conclusion concludes about "successful business". Where did successful business come from?

The assumption should bridge this gap.

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.
Doesn't matter how much they have in common. Premises say that focussing on both doesn't work and that should be taken as true.

(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.
Irrelevant. Whether the railroad wants to be successful or not doesn't matter. The point is that IF it wants to be successful, it should focus on one only.

(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
This is correct. It links serving customers well to being successful - exactly what we wanted.

(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.
The railroad needs to serve its customers well to be successful. Which customers it serves (commuters/freight) is irrelevant.

(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.
How much is the overlap is irrelevant. The argument talks about focussing on one kind of business.

Answer (C)

GmatDisciple · Answer

Got this tough question wrong. Here's my error analysis and key takeaways:
 - If conclusion introduces a new term that isn't mentioned in the premise, then assumption should address/define that new term!
- Verify each word.

Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.  - Out of scope 
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.  - This is the one I initially chose. But now realize it's, out of scope and extreme wording. We have no idea about priorities 
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.  - Correct 
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.  - Out of scope: isolates commuters 
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.  - Out of scope

Basshead · Answer

Conclusion: Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

From this conclusion we can say: If a railroad does  not  concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets, then the railroad is  not  going to be a successful business.

Notice the premise mentions a railroad dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers. Suddenly, the conclusion mentions "if a railroad is going to be a successful business." The premise did not mention the success of the business! The missing piece between the two is that the railroad  needs  to serve its customers well to be a successful business.

Unless  a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.

Answer is C.

Akshaynandurkar · Answer

if X then Y DOES NOT mean if ~X then ~Y 
but it clearly means if ~Y then def. ~X
if a railroad is going to be successful business then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets
it means underlying assumption is not (if they concentrate on commuter service OR if they concentrate on freight service then they will be successful )
but actual assumption is 
if they are successful then they must have concentrated on either 1 or 2
in other words 
unless they concentrate on 1 or 2 , they won't be successful
if X then Y 
means X is necessary condition and not the sufficient condition . for Y to happen we may require other things too 
but unless X happens , Y will not happen (if ~Y then ~X)
hence answer is C and not D

unraveled · Answer

Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad  serves neither particularly well . Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a  successful business , then it must  concentrate exclusively  on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other. - WRONG. Further assumption are required to be made. Hence not the right choice.
(B) The  first priority  of a railroad is to be a successful business. - WRONG. Irrelevant.
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business. - CORRECT. A ----> B ----> C sets perfectly.
(D)  If  a railroad concentrates on commuter service,  it will be a successful business . - WRONG. A conditional which may or may not be true. It takes the situation from the passage and reverses it to make the same claim which is not true.
(E) Railroad  commuters rarely want  freight service as well. - WRONG. Irrelevant.

Concentrating on one business - A
Serving customer well - B
Successful business - C

A ----> B ----> C

Answer C.

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Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight

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Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight

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