Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the country's first ever automobile in-plant railway siding at Suzuki Motor’s manufacturing facility located in Gujarat. The brand-new in-plant siding project at the Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) plant has been introduced to minimize the carbon footprint in logistics by using fewer fossil fuels, and it will also help reduce road congestion. Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL).
This is the first time Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development (G-RIDE) and Maruti Suzuki India collaborated to unveil the in-plant railway siding in the state. The in-plant railway siding will have the capacity to move more than 300,000 automobiles annually to 15 locations around the nation once it is fully operational.
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The MD and CEO at Maruti Suzuki, Hisashi Takeuchi, 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. As we gear to double our production capacity from 2 million units per annum to 4 million units per annum by FY31, the dispatches of vehicles from railways will also increase multifold. This in-plant railway facility reinforces our commitment towards sustainable mobility."
Maruti Suzuki is planning to increase the production capacity of its Gujarat facility, and the new in-plant railway siding has been set up to speed up production. The auto giant recently started the production of its fourth manufacturing line at the plant, which will come into operation by fiscal year 2027. With an expenditure of INR 3,200 crore, the new assembly line will boost production from the existing 750,000 units annually to over 1 million units. Maruti Suzuki India recently acquired the Suzuki Gujarat plant from Suzuki Motor Corporation. The board of directors agreed to sell the plant for a considerable amount of INR 12,841.1 crore.
