Over 17,239 MT oxygen delivered by Oxygen Express trains during pandemic

Over 17,239 metric tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in over 1,042 tankers has been delivered across the country by the Indian Railways' Oxygen Express during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement on Tuesday.

As many as 263 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey so far, including those carrying 680 MT from Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand in the last 12 hours ahead of Cyclone Yaas. Eight Oxygen Expresses have moved from the region.

Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka have been delivered over 1,000 MT each. 614 MT of Oxygen has been offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 3649 MT in Uttar Pradesh, 633 MT in Madhya Pradesh, 4820 MT in Delhi, 1911 MT in Haryana, 98 MT in Rajasthan, 1421 MT in Karnataka, 320 MT in Uttarakhand, 1099 MT in Tamil Nadu, 886 MT in Andhra Pradesh, 225 MT in Punjab, 246 MT in Kerala, 1029 MT in Telangana and 80 MT in Assam.

In order to ensure that Oxygen relief reaches in the fastest time possible, the average speed of these critical freight trains is way above 55, in most cases over long distances on high priority Green Corridors. 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.