Maruti Suzuki steps up efforts to reduce carbon footprint

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.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (Maruti Suzuki) transported over 3.2 lakh vehicles using Indian railways in the calendar year 2022. Notably, this is the highest-ever dispatch using rail mode by the Company in a calendar year.

Mr. Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited 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. This 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. 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 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. Share of railways in outbound logistics has increased from 5% in 2013 to 17% in 2022. The Company 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.

Maruti Suzuki uses 40 specially designed railway rakes to transport vehicles across the country. Each rake has a capacity to carry 300+ vehicles. Presently, it utilizes 7 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).