Oxygen Express With 70 Tonnes Of Oxygen Reaches Delhi; Total 450 Tonnes Of Life-Saving Gas Delivered Across India

An oxygen express train carrying four tankers with a total capacity of around 70 tonnes of oxygen reached Delhi from Raigarh in Chhattisgarh earlier today (Tuesday).

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal made the development public via his Twitter account and stated, "#OxygenExpress has reached Delhi from Raigarh, Chhattisgarh with Oxygen for patients in the capital. Indian Railways is leaving no stone unturned in our collective fight against COVID-19, & ensuring sufficient availability of life-saving resources across the country."

As per reports, this oxygen will now be distributed to various hospitals by the Delhi government.

Earlier the Railway Ministry had announced plans to transport medical oxygen from Angul, Kalingnagar, Rourkela, and Raigarh to Delhi and NCR region.

Notably, since the first train of empty tankers left for Vizag from the Mumbai region just a few days back, the railways has transported more than 302 metric tonnes (MT) of medical-grade oxygen safely and securely to various states across India.

With 154 MT more liquid medical oxygen (LMO) on its way, oxygen expresses were slated to cross cumulative 450 MT of delivery by Tuesday morning.

The railways is swiftly meeting the state governments’ demands for the facility of Covid care coaches during the current raging second spell of the pandemic with its fleet of 4,000 retrofitted coaches as isolation units with a capacity of 64,000 beds.

As per currently available data, these facilities are seeing a steady intake registering a cumulative admission of 81 Covid patients and their subsequent discharge of 22 patients.

According to the railways, none of the facilities have registered any casualties.