Railways delivers 14,500 MT of liquid medical oxygen so far

Working on mission mode amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Railways has successfully delivered nearly 14,500 metric tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in more than 884 tankers by 224 Oxygen Expresses.

In its statement, the Railways said 8 Oxygen Expresses with a load of more than 563 MT of LMO in 35 tankers are also on the run, the ministry informed.

Oxygen relief by Oxygen Expresses has reached out to 13 states, namely Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.

According to the Ministry, Delhi has received the most oxygen relief with 4,278 MT, while Uttar Pradesh has got nearly 3,463 MT. Maharashtra has received 614 MT of oxygen relief so far.

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala have been delivered 943 MT, 571 MT, and 246 MT of LMO respectively.

The Railways have mapped different routes with oxygen supply locations and have kept themselves ready with any emerging need of the states. The states provide tankers to the Railways for bringing LMO.

Oxygen Express started with its delivery of oxygen relief days back on April 24 in Maharashtra with a load of 126 MT.

To ensure that oxygen relief reaches in the fastest time possible, Railways has created new standards and unprecedented benchmarks in the running of Oxygen Express Freight Trains, the ministry informed.

The average speed of these critical Freight trains, in most cases, is way above 55 over long distances. These trains run on high priority Green Corridor, with the highest sense of urgency.

The operational teams of various zones have also been working round the clock in these challenging circumstances to ensure that oxygen reaches in the fastest possible time frame.

Railways said that technical stoppages have also been reduced to 1 minute for crew changes over different sections. "Tracks are kept open and high alertness is maintained to ensure that Oxygen Express keeps zipping through. All this is done in a manner that speed of other Freight Operation does not get reduced as well", the ministry added.