Guwahati: Maruti Suzuki India, the largest car manufacturer in India, records the highest-ever dispatch in a fiscal year, shipping 2.33 lakh automobiles through Indian Railways, according to a company official.

The idea of delivering autos via Indian Railways was hatched eight years ago. And this is the highest despatch ever recorded. In the preceding eight years, the carmaker transported nearly 11 lakh vehicles via Indian Railways, avoiding approximately 4,800 MT of CO2 emissions.

The company's shipment in 2021-22 was 23 percent more than the 1.89 lakh units it delivered via railways in the fiscal year 2020-21.

Over 1,56,000 truck trips and 174 million gallons of gasoline have been saved as a result of the change. "Railway logistics has a great potential over road logistics to lower carbon footprint and minimise road congestion." "We have consciously raised the proportion of automobile deliveries from our production to dealers utilising railroads over the years," MSI Executive Director Rahul Bharti told PTI in an interview. He added that it has increased from roughly 66,000 units in 2014-15 to an all-time high of 2.33 lakh units in 2021-22.

"We are taking many initiatives to enhance our share even higher." He stated that the corporation is still dedicated to increase its rail transportation share from its present level of 15%.

Recognizing the environmental advantages, the automaker stated that it has collaborated with Indian Railways to boost the use of rail transportation for car dispatch. Among other advantages, train, transportation allowed the corporation to reach its consumers in the southern and northern regions faster, it claimed.

According to the organisation, Indian Railways provided invaluable assistance with operational logistics such as effective rake availability and priority transit en route throughout the period. In 2013, MSI became the country's first automaker to earn an Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) licence.

With this licence, the business was able to manufacture and operate high-speed, high-capacity auto-wagon rakes on the Indian Railways network. The firm has 41 railway rakes, each of which can transport more than 300 automobiles.

MSI now operates six loading terminals in Delhi-NCR and Gujarat (Gurgaon, Farukhnagar, Kathuwas, Patli, Detroj, and Chharodi) and sixteen destination terminals (Bangalore, Nagpur, Mumbai, Guwahati, Mundra Port, Indore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Farukhnagar, Siliguri, Coimbatore, Pune, Agartala, and Silchar).

Cars dispatched for North-Eastern states now arrive in roughly eight days, thanks to the addition of Agartala (in 2019) and Silchar (in 2021). According to MSI, this is 50% faster than road transportation, which would ordinarily take 16 days.

Source: PTI