Indian automobile manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has increased vehicle transportation via Indian Railways from 1.89 lakh units in 2020-21 by 23% to 2.33 lakh units in 2021-22. It is the MSI’s highest ever dispatch in a financial year so far, since commencing the initiative eight years ago, as per a senior company official.
Over the eight years that MSI has been using Indian Railways’ services to transport its automobiles, it has transported around 11 lakh vehicles – helping avoid over 4,800 MT of carbon dioxide emissions. The switch from road to railways has helped save over 1,56,000 truck trips and over 174 million litres of fuel. Back in 2014-15 when the initiative was still at a nascent stage, MSI transported around 66,000 vehicles.
Railway logistics offers a significant potential over road logistics to lower carbon footprint and reduce road congestion. Over the years we have consciously increased the share of car dispatches from our factory to dealers using railways.” .
Rahul Bharti, Executive Director (Maruti Suzuki India)
MSI has been leading in the industry with the usage of Indian Railways’s services and to take it further, they are engaging in joint ventures with the state governments of Gujarat and Haryana to set up in-plant railway sidings at Hansalpur and Manesar manufacturing plants.
The current share of rail transport that the company engages is 15% but MSI is committed to increase it in the coming years, in view of the environmental benefits that tag along rail transportation. MSI’s logistics division also leverages the advantage of time and cost that rail has over road as a mode of transporting their vehicles.
MSI was the country’s first automobile manufacturer to obtain an Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license in 2013. The license allowed the company to fabricate and operate high-speed, high-capacity auto-wagon rakes on the Indian Railways network. The company has 41 railway rakes, with a capacity of over 300 vehicles per rake.
