India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki has gone a step ahead for quicker and more safer way to transport its new cars from its manufacturing unit in Gujarat to other parts of India, including remote locations. The first such train rake loaded about 125 new Maruti Suzuki cars in 25 New Modified Goods (NMG) coaches. The first such consignment left Maruti Suzuki’s plant in Detroj, Gujarat to Nidvanda in Karnataka covering a distance of over 1700 kms.
Ravinder Bhaker, Chief Spokesperson for Western Railways confirmed that the entire consignment of cars took less than four hours to load. Maruti Suzuki’s Gujarat plant has the capacity to produce over 2.50 lakh cars annually and this tie-up with Indian Railways will benefit to transport its cars to other remote locations quickly ensuring less transportation time and easy logistics. For smooth operation from Detroj, Maruti Suzuki along with Western Railways have developed a stacking area of 8000 square meters with a capacity to stack for handling up to two NMG rakes.
The Detroj railway station itself has been developed for transportation business by Maruti Suzuki and Indian Railways with minimum capital.
Bhakar further added that Western Railways will not only transport the manufactured cars to all destinations in the country but also provide logistic solutions for export of the vehicles.
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“This initiative is a great beginning for the development of industry and Gujarat state for making it a hub of car production in near future,” Bhakar was quoted.
Auto Giant Maruti joins hands with National Transporter IR to transport its car to various parts of the country from Detroj in Gujarat.First such rake to roll on 24.3.2018 #partnershiprailway pic.twitter.com/vsor8mB9r1
— Western Railway (@WesternRly) March 24, 2018
In 2014, Maruti Suzuki had flagged off ‘Flexi deck auto-wagon rake’ from Gurgaon railway station. It was designed by Indian Railway’s Research Design and Standards Organization and had 20% additional capacity of 318 as compared to the previous twin-decker rakes, used to transport leveraging the Indian Railways network. These new rakes can travel at a top speed of 95 kmph reducing the time taken between Gurgaon and Bangalore to five days. By road, this distance is covered in more than seven days to cover the same. Maruti Suzuki had invested around Rs 50 crore to develop the same. The same model of transportation is now being replicated in Gujarat and will also reduce the traffic and congestion on highways.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has lauded the new freight loading initiative commenced by the Western Railways.
“From transporting autos to Amul butter, Indian Railways gives you the most economical, safe, timely and environment friendly transportation. Adopt it today!” he tweeted.
