Maruti dispatches 3.2 lakh cars using Indian Railways in 2022, its highest-ever

Maruti Suzuki has transported more than 3.2 lakh units of vehicles using Indian Railways mode in the calendar year 2022, marking its highest-ever dispatch using rail mode in any calendar year. This has helped the company offset around 1,800 MT of CO2 emissions and save over 50 million litres of fuel during the year, thus contributing to reduction in carbon footprint.

Using the rail mode has also helped the company save over 45,000 truck trips throughout the year. Thanking the railways for its service, Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, “We thank Indian Railways for their continued support in our endeavor to scale up vehicle dispatches using railways. 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."

Maruti Suzuki became the country's first automobile manufacturer to obtain Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license in 2013. In the last 10 years, the company has seen a five-fold increase in railway dispatches in terms of volumes. Its share of railways in outbound logistics has increased from 5% in 2013 to 17% in 2022.

Maruti has transported over 1.4 million vehicles using railways in the last 10 years, which has resulted in offsetting over 6,600 MT CO2 emissions. To transport vehicles via railways, Maruti uses 40 specially designed railway rakes with each rake having a capacity of more than 300 vehicles.

Presently, it utilizes seven loading terminals across Delhi-NCR and Gujarat and 18 destination terminals - Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Guwahati, Mundra Port, Indore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi-NCR, Siliguri, Coimbatore, Pune, Agartala, Silchar, Ranchi and Ludhiana.

In a separate development, the company showcased a concept electric vehicle at the Auto Expo 2023, called eVX, which is set to come to the market some time in 2025.