Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated India's first automobile in-plant railway siding at Suzuki Motor Gujarat, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) via video conferencing.

As part of the Gati Shakti programme, this in-plant railway siding at Hansalpur aims to reduce the carbon footprint in logistics, bring down fossil fuel consumption, and reduce road congestion. Once fully operational, the Gujarat railway siding facility will be able to dispatch 300,000 cars per annum to 15 destinations across India. The project is a collaboration between Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development (G-RIDE), a Government of Gujarat and Indian Railways partnership along with Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), and MSIL.

Once fully operational, the in-plant railway siding project at Suzuki Motor Gujarat, Hansalpur, will be able to dispatch 300,000 cars per annum to 15 destinations across India.

The key highlights of the project is that annually it offsets 1,650 metric tonnes of carbon emissions, cuts down 50,000 truck trips, and saves 35 million litres of fossil fuel.

Dedicating the project to green logistics, Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “We are honoured to be part of the Prime Minister’s ambitious Gati Shakti programme that fosters efficiencies in logistics. Today marks a significant milestone as we become India’s first automobile company to have a railway siding facility within its manufacturing plant.”

He added, “As we gear up to double our production capacity from present 2 million units per annum to 4 million units per annum by 2030-31, the dispatches of vehicles from railways too will increase multi-fold. This in-plant railway facility reinforces our commitment towards sustainable mobility.”