In many cases, operation of regional trunk lines is not profitable to railway operators. Nevertheless, railway operators are under pressure to manage regional trunk lines running under deficits, to better serve public interests. Given this situation, railway operators need to optimize assets by adjusting train schedules or changing the number of trains running. When railway operators judge the operation of a regional trunk line, the B/C ratio is generally used as a management index. This ratio is not considered part of strategic operational policy over the long term, and excessively influenced by the aspects of supply and demand over the short term. Accordingly, this study focused on indices that might be used to prevent worsening deficits and provide long term strategic operation policies, main indices to better measure economic situations, and auxiliary indices to supplement the main index. The main indices were measured in conventional ways to target experts and employees. This study presents quantitative standards, which are intended to be used to create itemized criteria through an Analytic Hierarchy Process, for better decision-making.