Maruti Suzuki boosts rail vehicle movements in India

Over the past ten years, Maruti Suzuki, the largest automobile manufacturer in India, has grown the number of automobiles moved by rail around the nation by more than 580%, surpassing 2 million vehicle movements in total.According to the corporation, it moved 447,750 cars by rail in the most recent fiscal year (2023–2024), an increase from the 65,700 it moved in the fiscal year 2014–2015. According to Maruti Suzuki, rail presently makes up 21.5% of total vehicle movements.The Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) license was obtained by Maruti Suzuki in 2013, marking the company's debut in the Indian auto industry. Maruti Suzuki also created special wagons for vehicle rail logistics operations. With the AFTO license, it can run high-capacity, high-speed completed vehicles on Indian Railways' network that transport wagon rakes.

Maruti Suzuki India's managing director and CEO, Hisashi Takeuchi, reported that the company's efforts to boost the volume of freight transported by rail had saved around 270 million liters of fuel and reduced CO2 emissions by about 10,000 metric tonnes overall.In the next seven to eight years, he added, "we plan to augment the use of railways in vehicle dispatches, close to 35%, as our production capacity nearly doubles from about 2 million units to 4 million units by FY 2030–31." "We remain dedicated to the Indian government's goal of having no net emissions by 2070."