Hyundai India uses rail route to export cars to Nepal

Hyundai Motor India has started exporting its made-in-India cars in its first-ever eco-friendly operations through railway mode, with the dispatch of the first consignment of 125 cars to Nepal.

The first export consignment was flagged-off by Ganesh Mani S, director – production, Hyundai Motor India, and S Subramanian, additional divisional railway manager, Southern Railway, from the Walajabad Railway Hub near the Irungattukkottai-based Hyundai Motor India facility outside Chennai. The train will reach the India-Nepal border at Nautanwa near the border town of Sonauli, from where the last-mile delivery will be through the roadways owing to the topography of Nepal. The overall on-road movement time is expected to reduce from 8 days to 5 days, bringing the cars faster and more eco-friendly manner to the customers.

Commenting on this latest initiative in the field of outbound logistics, Ganesh Mani S, director –production, Hyundai Motor India said, “Hyundai is committed to eco-friendly initiatives. As a progressive OEM, all our production processes follow green practices for conservation of natural resources. The zero-wastage of water and using over 70% of renewable energy in the HMI plant has set a benchmark in the industry. To further enhance our initiatives following global direction of ‘Progress for Humanity’, we have commenced our first-ever eco-friendly exports operations through railways by dispatching 125 cars in 25 rakes in this first consignment to Nepal, reducing carbon footprint by 20,260 tonnes.”

“Our innovative practices like using coastal shipment for domestic logistics of cars have already been appreciated by the authorities, and we send out over 14% of our domestic car volumes by the rail route instead of road. Our thanks to the Indian Railways for their unstinted support in such innovative practices which will have long-lasting positive impact on the environment”, added Mani.

Made-in-India Hyundai cars are being exported to over 88 countries. The OEM surpassed the 3 million vehicle export milestone earlier in 2020. The carmaker has also established several innovative practices in domestic logistics, using railways (over 14% of the volumes) and waterways to send cars across India from the Irungattukkottai-based production facility.