How Maruti Suzuki saved 270 million litres of fuel by using Indian Railways

Maruti Suzuki India Limited today announced that it has surpassed a landmark of 2 million cumulative vehicle dispatches using Indian railways. The company said it has rapidly scaled up its vehicle dispatches through railways from 65,700 units in FY 2014-15 to 447,750 units in FY 2023-24. This means, the company has achieved over a six-fold increase in vehicle dispatches through railways in 10 years.

Back in May 2013, Maruti Suzuki obtained an automotive freight train operator (AFTO) license and flagged off the first flexi deck auto-wagon rake in March 2014.In November 2021, the company crossed one million vehicle dispatches using railways and in July 2022, the company inducted 40 flexi deck auto-wagon railway rakes each with over 300 units capacity. And now, the company has crossed the milestone of two million vehicle dispatches using railways.

Railways offer a congestion-free, safer, and energy-efficient alternative to road transportation of vehicles. Maruti Suzuki dispatches vehicles to 20 destinations, serving over 450 cities using Indian railways. The company further said it has achieved cumulative fuel savings of 270 million litres in 10 years and also offsets cumulative CO2 emissions of 10,000 metric tonnes in the last decade.
Speaking on the milestone, Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, of Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, “Maruti Suzuki pioneered the use of railways for vehicle dispatches over a decade ago by becoming the first company in India to obtain the Automobile-Freight-Train-Operator license. Since then, the company has systematically increased its share of vehicle dispatches using railways. Through our sustained efforts in green logistics, we have achieved outstanding results including a cumulative reduction of ~10,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions and ~270 million litres of cumulative fuel savings. With our production capacity nearly doubling from about 2 million units to 4 million units by FY 2030-31, we plan to augment the use of railways in vehicle dispatches, by close to 35% over the next 7-8 years. We stand committed to the Government of India’s Net zero emissions target by 2070.”

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first automobile in-plant railway siding project at Maruti Suzuki’s manufacturing facility at Gujarat. The railway siding in Gujarat facilitates the dispatch of 3 lakh cars annually to 15 destinations across India. The company said it will also cut down of annual carbon emission by up to 1,650 MT. More so, as the railway siding will be fully electric. It will also ensure that the railway transportation will ensure that the truck trips made to transport cars will be cut down by up to 50,000 trips per year, thus saving 35 million of fossil fuels per annum.