Covid-19 Relief By Indian Railways: Oxygen Express Operations Expanded To Haryana And Telangana

Oxygen Express of Indian Railways continued to bring relief to the States as its operations expanded to the States of Haryana and Telangana after Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.

Continuing the momentum, there are three more trains on the run either carrying Liquid Oxygen or on the way to the loading plants. It is expected that cumulative liquid medical oxygen (LMO) carried by Indian railways will reach almost 640 MT in next 24 hours.

Uttar Pradesh received its Oxygen express carrying 76 MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) on Thursday (29 April) with five tankers. One Tanker was offloaded in Varanasi while the remaining four tankers were offloaded in Lucknow.

Another train is already on its way to Lucknow and is expected to arrive on Friday (30 April) carrying 33 MT of LMO in four tankers.

Haryana will receive its first Oxygen express as a train with two tankers left Angul (Orissa) on Thursday. Continuous stream of Oxygen trains to Haryana will ensure oxygen replenishment to the Covid-19 patients in the state.

Telangana government. has also requested Indian Railways for Oxygen express. An empty rake is on its way from Secunderabad to Angul with five empty tankers.

“Railways is in full preparedness for providing oxygen transportation services to all the states in need. In the ongoing operation, States provide tankers to the Railways. Railways then proceeds in the fastest feasible mode to bring the Oxygen supplies from the locations and delivers it to the requisitioning State. The deployment and use of this Oxygen is done by the State Government,” the Ministry of Railways said in a statement.

Liquid Oxygen being a cryogenic cargo has many limitations like maximum speed at which it can be carried, maximum acceleration and deceleration and loading restrictions like availability of liquid oxygen tankers and loading ramps etc. Route mapping also takes care of the maximum clearances available along the route.