In its first such initiative, auto giant Maruti joins hands with national transporter Indian Railways to transport its cars to various parts of the county from Detroj in Gujarat. This is the first such rake to roll on 24th March, 2018. Western Railway transported 125 Maruti Suzuki cars in 25 NMG coaches from Detroj in Ahmedabad Division for Nidvanda Railway Station of KSR Bengaluru Division of South Western Railway covering a distance of 1716 kms. These cars were loaded in less than 4 hours.
According to a press release by Shri Ravindar Bhakar – Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway, the loading started at 8.00 hrs and completed at 11.40 hrs , i.e., within a duration of 3 hours and 40 minutes. Indian Railways has built up a relationship with Maruti Suzuki plant situated near Becharji Station of Patan District in Gujarat with a production capacity of approximately 2.5 lakh cars per annum. This number is expected to increase in the near future. For handling of rakes from Detroj station, Maruti Suzuki India Limited in consultation with the Indian Railways has developed a stacking area of 8000 sq.m. with a capacity to stack cars for handling up to two NMG rakes .
Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Railways has also appreciated this unique initiative of Indian Railways in the field of freight loading through his tweet in which he has said that, “From transporting autos to Amul butter, Indian Railways gives you the most economical, safe, timely and environment friendly transportation. Adopt it today!”. Detroj Station was developed with minimum capital expenditure with the cooperation of M/s Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. as partner in this transportation business. Railways will not only transport manufactured cars to all destinations of the country but also provide in logistic solution for export of vehicles.
This initiative is a great beginning for the development of industry and the Gujarat state area for making it a hub of car production in near future.