Indian Railways successfully bring home fifth O2 Express to Karnataka
The Fifth Oxygen Express that Indian Railways is operating to bring liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to states in need for this life saver reached ICD Whitefield at Bengaluru at 1.55am on May 20. This special delivery train had started from Tatanagar, Jharkhand on May 18. Indian Railways created a signal-free ‘Green Corridor’ to enable swift transport of this Oxygen Express, that is, this train had a stoppage free run and was not detained for crossing/passage of another train.
The crew from Bengaluru division took over the train at Jolarpettai and operated with the speed of 100 kmph on the route. The entire crew change process was completed within five minutes at Jolarpettai. The train has carried eight cryogenic containers and each cryogenic container carried 20 tonnes of LMO for a total tonnage of 160 tonnes. Karnataka thus far has received 640 tonnes of LMO by Rail. Indian Railways has so far run 196 oxygen expresses and transported nearly 11,800 tonnes of LMO.
The ministry officially as of 2.13PM on May 20 confirmed that Indian Railways that is delivering LMO to various states across India has delivered nearly 12630 MT of LMO in more than 775 tankers to various states across the country. Around 200 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey so far and brought relief to various states that are battling a second surge of the global pandemic bringing forth new medical challenges in treating the affected people.
Likewise, at the time above release, 10 loaded Oxygen Expresses on run with more than 784 MT of LMO in 45 tankers were on the run. Oxygen expresses have been delivering more than 800 MT of LMO to the Nation each day now. It is the endeavour of Indian Railways to deliver as much LMO as possible in the shortest time possible to the requesting states. Oxygen relief by Oxygen Expresses has met the medical oxygen needs of 13 states including Karnataka thus far.
Thus far, Railways has offloaded 521 MT of oxygen in Maharashtra, nearly 3189 MT in UP, 521 MT in MP, 1549 MT in Haryana, 772 MT in Telangana, 98 MT in Rajasthan, 641 MT in Karnataka, 320 MT in Uttarakhand, 584 MT in Tamil Nadu, 292 MT in Andhra Pradesh, 111 MT in Punjab, 118 MT in Kerala and more than 3915 MT in Delhi. Railways is picking up oxygen from places like Hapa/Mundra in the West and Rourkela, Durgapur, Tatanagar, Angul in the East and then delivering it to states.
This post has been published in arrangement with Jaideep J Shenoy
