MSIL would have faced capacity hurdle without rail infra: Executive

50,000 truck trips will be cut due to new railway siding at automaker's Hansalpur plant in Gujarat

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) would have faced a capacity bottleneck had a rail infrastructure not been put up at its Hansalpur plant in Gujarat, said Rahul Bharti, executive officer (corporate affairs).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated by video-conferencing on Monday India's first in-plant automobile railway siding at the Hansalpur plant. The siding will allow MSIL to transport 300,000 cars annually via railways. The project cost Rs 1,081 crore.

"Honestly, even if we do not save anything due to this project, we would still be very happy as it gives us scalability. It is a very safe, efficient, and clean way of transporting cars. If the rail infrastructure was not there, we would have hit a capacity bottleneck. Even without financial savings, it is a better way of transporting cars," said Bharti.

The railway siding gains importance because just two months back, India's largest carmaker had said it would establish a new production line at the Hansalpur plant at a cost of Rs 3,200 crore to increase its annual manufacturing capacity from 750,000 units to 1 million units. The new line will start operation from 2026-27.

When asked if MSIL saves money while transporting cars through railways instead of roads, Bharti replied, "It varies a lot. It depends on sectors, train schedules, etc. However, yes, there are some savings."

In the first 11 months of 2023-24, MSIL transported 409,000 units through railways and the remaining by road. Rail transportation is expected to significantly increase due to the new line. "One rake (train) carries 270-300 cars and therefore, it replaces 40 trucks. Therefore, about 50,000 truck trips will be cut due to the new railway siding, helping us save 3.5 crore litres of fossil fuel," said Bharti.

The railway siding project comprised three phases: First, converting the 65 km-long Katosan-Becharaji-Ranuj railway line from narrow gauge to broad gauge; second, establishing a 2.5 km-long line from the main line to the Hansalpur plant's boundary wall; and third, laying approximately 5.9 km of tracks inside the plant, extending to the boundary wall.

The entire Rs 1,081 crore project was executed by Bahucharaji Rail Corporation Limited, which is a joint venture of Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (GRID), Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), and MSIL. However, the third phase's construction cost (Rs 105 crore) was entirely paid by MSIL as the entire development is inside the plant. "The cost of the first and the second phase was divided between GRID, GIDC, and MSIL in a 45-29-26 manner," said Bharti.

GRID is a 50-50 joint venture of the Gujarat government and the Indian Railways. The railway siding allows MSIL to directly transport cars from the Hansalpur plant to 300 cities in the country. It also gives direct and last mile connectivity to Mundra and Pipavav ports from where MSIL exports its cars.

In January, MSIL announced its plans to set up a new car manufacturing plant in Gujarat with an annual production capacity of 1 million units at an investment cost of about Rs 35,000 crore. This will be in addition to the Hansalpur plant's expansion. "This new plant in Gujarat is aimed to start operation in 2028-29... The details of the location and the models to be produced will be shared in due course," it had said.