PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
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Inspite of upcoming cyclone, Railways run 2 Oxygen Expresses early morning today from Gujarat to beat high winds and deliver 150 MT of Oxygen to the Nation
10000 MT LMO delivery milestone crossed by Oxygen Expresses
First Oxygen Express from Bokaro to Punjab set to reach today with two tankers with 41.07 MT of Oxygen Relief
521 MT of Oxygen offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 2652 MT in UP, 431 MT in MP, 1290 MT in Haryana, 564 MT in Telangana, 40 MT in Rajasthan, 361 MT in Karnataka, 200 MT in Uttarakhand, 231 MT in Tamil Nadu, 40 MT in Punjab, 118 MT in Kerala and nearly 3734 MT in Delhi
New Delhi, 17th May, 2021
Overcoming all hurdles and finding new solutions, Indian Railways is continuing its journey of bringing relief by delivering Liquid Medical Oxygen(LMO) to various states across the country. So far, Indian Railways has delivered more than 10300 MT of LMO in more than 600 tankers to various states across the country.
Oxygen Expresses have been delivering nearly 800 MT of LMO to the Nation each day for last few days.
Inspite of upcoming cyclone Railways run early morning 2 Oxygen Expresses from Gujarat to beat high winds and deliver 150 MT of Oxygen to the Nation.
One Oxygen Express from Vadodara left at 4 am with 2 RORO trucks & 45 MT of LMO for delivery in Delhi region.
The other Oxygen Express left Hapa at 5.30 am with 6 tankers loaded with 106 MT of Oxygen Relief for deliveries for UP & Delhi region.
First Oxygen Express from Bokaro to Punjab is also set to reach Phillaur at 7 PM today with two tankers with 41.07 MT OF Oxygen Relief.
It may be noted that Oxygen Expresses started their deliveries 23 days back on 24th April 2021 in Maharashtra with a load of 126 MT.
In slightly over 23 days time, Railways has upscaled it's Oxygen Express operations to deliver more than 10300 MT of Medical Oxygen to 13 States.
Criss crossing the country, Indian 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 of Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, MP, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi & UP in complex operational route planning scenarios.
In order to ensure that Oxygen relief reaches in the fastest time possible, Railways is creating new standards and unprecedented benchmarks in running of Oxygen Express Freight Trains. The average speed of these critical Freight trains is way above 55 in most cases over long distances. Running on high priority Green Corridor, with a highest sense of urgency, operational teams of various zones are working round the clock in most challenging circumstances to ensure that Oxygen reaches in fastest possible time frame. Technical stoppages have 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 doesn't get reduced as well.
It may be noted that nearly 160 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey so far and brought relief to various States.
It is Indian Railways endeavour to deliver as much LMO as possible in the shortest time possible to the requesting states.
Till the time of this story, 521 MT of Oxygen has been offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 2652 MT in UP, 431 MT in MP, 1290 MT in Haryana, 564 MT in Telangana, 40 MT in Rajasthan, 361 MT in Karnataka, 200 MT in Uttarakhand, 231 MT in Tamil Nadu, 40 MT in Punjab, 118 MT in Kerala and nearly 3734 MT in Delhi.
Running of new Oxygen is a very dynamic exercise and figures keep getting updated all the time. More loaded Oxygen Expresses are expected to start their journeys later in the night.
Railways has mapped different routes with Oxygen supply locations and keeps itself ready with any emerging need of the States. States provide tankers to the Indian Railways for bringing LMO.
