Maruti Suzuki to set up dedicated railway sidings

Chennai: Passenger car major Maruti Suzuki India Ltd had transported over 3.2 lakh vehicles in 2022 through Indian Railway and is setting up dedicated railway sidings at its facilities in Haryana (Manesar) and Gujarat, said a top company official.

The company last year transported over 3.2 lakh vehicles using rail wagons, the highest in a calendar year since 2013 when the company got the Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license. "Going forward, we aim to further increase these numbers. For this, we are setting up dedicated railway sidings at our facilities in Haryana (Manesar) and Gujarat," Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, said.

"Aligned with the Government of India's aim to reach net zero emissions by 2070, we have enhanced our efforts to reduce carbon footprint in our business operations. Our strategy to increase the use of rail mode in outbound logistics has resulted in dispatching record 3.2 lakh vehicles using railways in CY2022," he said.

According to him, the use of railway wagons instead of trucks has resulted in offsetting around 1,800 MT of CO2 emissions. "In addition, we have been able to save over 50 million litres of fuel during the year which contributes to enhancing the energy security of our country," Takeuchi remarked. The share of railways in carrying Maruti Suzuki's cars is on the rise and last calendar year it was 17.1 per cent up from 13.9 per cent/2.2 lakh units in 2021.

The AFTO license allows Maruti Suzuki to fabricate and operate high speed, high capacity autowagon rakes on the Indian Railways network.