Maruti and Railways flag off high-capacity rake for car transportation

Maruti Suzuki and the Indian railways have flagged off a new high-capacity railway rake (technically called BCACBM). Named ‘Flexi deck auto-wagon rake’, the rake brings the advantages of higher capacity, flexibility, faster speed and environment friendliness to rail transportation of cars, the company said in a media release.

Autocar Professional had first reported, in its April 1, 2013 issue, that Indian Railways’ Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) had designed and developed three rail wagon prototypes designed to transport both passenger cars as well as SUVs.

The flexi deck auto-wagon rake has  20 percent additional capacity (318 cars) as compared to the current twin-decker rakes (265 cars), that are used for rail transportation. The new rake can transport vehicles of multiple dimensions. It can move at 95kph as compared to 65kph of the existing rakes. According to a company release, the new rake can travel between Gurgaon and Bangalore in around five days as compared to seven days by road.

The first flexi deck auto-wagon rake consisting of 27 wagons left Gurgaon for Nidavanda, Bangalore , carrying a mixed load of Maruti Suzuki cars including Swifts, Dzires, Altos, Wagon Rs and Omnis. Maruti Suzuki will develop infrastructure at the off-loading destinations. The company has developed a railway station at Nidavanda to handle nearly 300 vehicles. It plans to use Bangalore as a feeder point for dealer network.

Maruti Suzuki has been using rail transportation mode for over two decades. In 2008, along with Indian Railways, it developed double-deck container trains to enhance the load-carrying capacity. These continue to be used by Maruti Suzuki mainly for export vehicles from its manufacturing plants in Haryana to Mundra port in Gujarat.

India has the dubious reputation of having some of the highest logistics-related costs in the world. Therefore, measures such as these that cut time as well as emissions can prove to be a boost for the auto sector.