Rail transport uses different types of traction and qualities of rolling stock. Their suitability for passenger transport is assessed by criteria whose significance can be used to rank and select the best alternatives. The significance can be determined using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods based on expert assessment. In this paper, 22 experts ranked and weighted the importance of the original 9 traction quality criteria developed by the authors. From the ranks, the weights of the criteria were calculated using the Average Rank Transformation into Weight-Linear (ARTIW-L) and Non-Linear (ARTIW-N) methods. The percentage weights of the criteria were used to calculate their normalised weights using the Direct Percentage Weight (DPW) method. Three MCDM methods were used to increase the reliability of the results, as none of them has a theoretical advantage over the others. The results of the study show that the opinion of all experts are consistent. The concordance coefficient value is higher than the minimum threshold value, but lower than expected. The most important criteria for experts are safety of passengers and train crew, comfort for passengers and train crew, and operating costs. Of medium importance are the reliability and durability, environmental protection, cost of installing and maintaining the infrastructure. The least important are the purchase price, the dynamic parameters, distance travelled on a full tank of fuel or electrical charge. The results obtained from the expert study can be used to develop a strategy for the renewal and development of traction rolling stock for rail passenger transport.