COVID crisis: ‘Oxygen Express’ trains start supply to Maharashtra, UP
As the country’s battles shortage of medical oxygen required to treat critical COVID patients, the Indian Railways started its much-awaited “Oxygen Express” service to carry oxygen tankers from surplus regions to the deficit regions.
As the country’s battles shortage of medical oxygen required to treat critical COVID patients, the Indian Railways started its much-awaited “Oxygen Express” service to carry oxygen tankers from surplus regions to the deficit regions.
To meet the excessive demand from worst-affected states, the Centre has allowed industrial oxygen to be diverted for medical use. Accordingly, the “Oxygen Express” trains have started operations from steel plants that produce oxygen to different parts of the country using green corridors, so that the transport becomes fast.
The first “Oxygen Express” with seven tankers started from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) in Visakhapatnam and reached Nagpur (Maharashtra) on Friday evening (April 23). Maharashtra has been the worst affected state in the country and has been constantly flagging demand for medical oxygen with the Union government. Each oxygen tanker was carrying 15 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen.
Besides, an “Oxygen Express” with three tankers of medical oxygen reached Lucknow and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday morning (April 24). “The train started from Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand and offloaded two trucks in Lucknow and one truck in Varanasi around 6.30 am on Saturday. Each truck has a capacity of 15,000 litres of medical oxygen,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi told PTI.
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Two trucks of medical oxygen will meet around half the demand of Lucknow for Saturday.
The “Oxygen Express” will be refilled from Visakhapatnam, Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Bokaro and transported to various parts of the country.
In view of the high demand for oxygen in the country following a record spike in coronavirus cases, the railways has decided to run “Oxygen Express” trains to transport liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the country. Roll-on-roll-off trucks are being transported on flat wagons by the trains for quick supply of medical oxygen.