Vaishnaw inaugurates country’s largest automobile Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal at Manesar

New Delhi: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday inaugurated the country’s largest automobile Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal at Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s Manesar plant in Haryana.

The Railway Ministry said it is a key infrastructure development that significantly enhances the logistics efficiency of automobile transportation.

“The Manesar facility is connected to Patli railway station through a 10 km dedicated rail link, which forms part of the 121.7 km Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor being developed by the Haryana Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (HRIDC),” the ministry said in a release.

“The construction of this 10 km link involved an investment of Rs 800 crore, with HRIDC contributing Rs 684 crore and the remaining amount funded by Maruti Suzuki. The loading capacity of this Gati Shakti Cargo terminal is one of the highest in India i.e. 4.5 lakh automobiles per annum.”

While addressing a gathering, Vaishnaw said that in the last two and a half years, a focused campaign has been launched to increase the number of general coaches, and more than 1,200 such coaches were added in just the past year.

Over 100 MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) trains will now be augmented by increasing their composition from 8 to 12 coaches to 16 to 20 coaches to benefit short-distance commuters, he added.

“A new factory has been set up at Kazipet, Andhra Pradesh, for the manufacturing of over 100 MEMU trains,” the railways minister said.

Referring to the successful rollout of Namo Bharat trains, he said that 50 new Namo Bharat trains will be produced to cater to the growing passenger demand.

“In the financial year 2023–24, Indian Railways transported approximately 720 crore passengers and 1,617 million tonnes of freight. This performance helped Indian Railways achieve the second-highest freight volume globally, marking 2023–24 as a historic year,” Vaishnaw said.

Talking about a recent reform in Tatkal ticket booking to be implemented from July 1, 2025, Vaishnaw said that now only Aadhaar-authenticated and KYC-verified users will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets during the first 30 minutes of the booking window, and this will help ensure tickets availability for genuine passengers.

He also spoke about an ongoing pilot project in the Bikaner Division, where passenger reservation charts are now being prepared 24 hours in advance, replacing the earlier norm of 4 hours before train departure.

On the rollout of the Amrit Bharat Trains, the minister stated, “Three Amrit Bharat trains are currently operational and have received overwhelming public response. In the coming days, six more Amrit Bharat trains will be launched, and the production of 50 more trains is underway, and more batches will follow”.

Vaishnaw also mentioned that the Railway Coach Factory, Sonipat, is undergoing modernisation.