NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JUN 17
The Railway ministry on Thursday said ‘Oxygen Express’ trains have delivered 32,017 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) in more than 1,830 tankers across the country in the last 54 days. Of this, Tamil Nadu gets lion’s share of over 5,600 tonnes.
While 443 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey so far and brought relief to various states, one more is on the run with more than 78 tonnes of LMO in four tankers, it said in a statement.
Oxygen Expresses delivered more than 17,600 tonnes of LMO to the southern states of the country with more than 5,600 tonnes being offloaded in Tamil Nadu through 75 Oxygen Express trains in 303 containers, a release from Southern Railway CPRO B Guganesan said.
The special trains delivered more than 3,200 tonnes, 4,000 tonnes and 4,100 tonnes of LMO in the state of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively.
The Oxygen Expresses started their deliveries 54 days back on April 24 in Maharashtra with a load of 126 tonnes.
Oxygen relief by Oxygen Expresses reached 39 cities in 15 states namely Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam.
So far, 614 tonnes of oxygen has been offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 3,797 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, 656 tonnes in Madhya Pradesh, 5,722 tonnes in Delhi, 2,354 tonnes in Haryana, 98 tonnes in Rajasthan, 4,149 tonnes in Karnataka, 320 tonnes in Uttarakhand, 5,674 tonnes in Tamil Nadu, 4,036 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, 225 tonnes in Punjab, 513 tonnes in Kerala, 3,255 tonnes in Telangana, 38 tonnes in Jharkhand and 560 tonnes in Assam.
Indian Railways has mapped different routes with oxygen supply locations and keeps itself ready with any emerging need of the states. The states provide tankers to the Indian Railways for bringing the LMO.
Criss-crossing the country, Indian Railways is picking up oxygen from places like Hapa, Baroda, Mundra in the west and Rourkela, Durgapur, Tatanagar, Angul in the east and then delivering it to states of Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Assam in complex operational route planning scenarios, the ministry added.
