Maruti Suzuki begins rail operations with in-plant siding

With a capacity of 450,000 vehicles annually, Maruti Suzuki India’s Manesar facility in the Indian state of Haryana has started rail operations. It is hailed as the largest in-plant railway siding in the nation. It is the second such in-plant rail siding for the automaker; the first one, which has an annual dispatch capacity of 300,000, has been in operation at its Gujurat facility since 2024. Maruti Suzuki said this month that it transported 500,000 cars via rail in FY2024–2025, which accounts for almost 25% of its entire distribution during that time.

Within the 243-hectare Manesar industrial plant, the Manesar rail operation occupies 18.6 hectares. This includes four full-length rail tracks (plus one for diverting engines) on a fully electrified route, totaling 8.2km of track. A two-story station structure and a designated walkway for drivers and guards along the rails are also part of the siding. From the new rail siding, vehicles built in Manesar (and the adjoining Gurugram facility) would be shipped to 17 hubs around India, providing service to 380 cities. Additionally, they can be shipped to the ports of Pipavav and Mundra for exportation abroad.

The 126-kilometer Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor (Horc), which connects Sonipat and Palwal, includes the rail operation, which is run by the public-private joint venture Haryana Orbital Rail. Maruti Suzuki has committed INR 1,270 million for the development of the in-plant yard and INR 3,250 million ($37,555) for the corridor. In order to promote multimodal connectivity throughout the nation, the siding has been registered under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan, an effort of the Indian government that integrates infrastructure development across many ministries and departments.

At maximum operation, the siding is expected to save 60 million liters of fuel and 175,000 tons of carbon emissions yearly. Since beginning rail operations in 2014 after obtaining the Automobile Freight Train Operator (Afto) license to operate on the Indian Railways network, Maruti Suzuki India claims to have shipped 2.5 million automobiles. Since it began manufacturing in 2006, the Manesar facility has produced over 10 million automobiles. The Brezza, Ertiga, XL6, Ciaz, Dzire, WagonR, S-Presso, and Celerio models are among those it now produces.