Maruti Suzuki India transported over 3.2 lakh vehicles using Indian railways in 2022, its highest-ever dispatch using rail mode in a calendar year.
“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 “, Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director & CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said in a statement.
AFTO License
Maruti Suzuki is India’s first automobile manufacturer to obtain Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license in 2013. This license allows the Company to fabricate and operate high speed, high capacity auto-wagon rakes on the Indian Railways network.
Since then, the Company has consistently worked to enhance the share of dispatches through railways.
In the last 10 years, the Company has seen a five-fold increase in railway dispatches in terms of volumes.
On a percentage basis, the share of railways in outbound logistics of Maruti Suzuki has increased from 5 per cent in 2013 to 17 per cent in 2022.
Environmental Impact
The transportation of finished vehicles via railways has many tangible benefits. It is a clean, environment friendly mode of transportation. It reduces congestion on highways and there is more space available to other vehicles.
In CY 2022, the use of rail network to dispatch vehicles helped the company offset around 1800 MT of CO2 emissions. In addition, the auto major has been able to save over 50 million litres of fuel during the year, contributing to the energy security of our country.
On a cumulative basis, the company has transported over 1.4 million vehicles using Railways in the last ten years (CY 2013-CY2022), which has resulted in offsetting over 6600 MT CO2 emissions.
The company uses 40 specially designed railway rakes to transport vehicles across the country with each rake having a capacity to carry over 300 vehicles.
Presently, it utilizes seven loading terminals across Delhi-NCR and Gujarat from where the vehicles are loaded on railway network and sent to 18 destination terminals (Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Guwahati, Mundra Port, Indore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi-NCR, Siliguri, Coimbatore, Pune, Agartala, Silchar, Ranchi and Ludhiana).
Further in order to scale up vehicle dispatches using railways, Maruti is setting up dedicated railway sidings at its facilities in Haryana (Manesar) and Gujarat.