Oxygen Express crosses milestone of delivering 25,000 tonnes of O2

The railways Oxygen Express' trains have crossed the milestone of delivering 25,000 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen across 39 cities in 15 states/UTs amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the national transporter said on Saturday.

The Indian Railways has so far delivered more than 25,629 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), in more than 1,503 tankers, to various states and Union territories (UTs) across the country.

While 368 Oxygen Express trains have completed their journey so far and brought relief to various states/UTs, seven loaded trains with more than 482 tonnes of LMO in 30 tankers are on their way.

Assam received its fifth Oxygen Express with 80 tonnes of LMO in four tankers from Jharkhand, whereas 3,000 tonnes oxygen was offloaded in Karnataka.

The railways' special Oxygen Express trains started their deliveries on April 24 in Maharashtra with a load of 126 tonnes of oxygen.

The oxygen relief by Oxygen Express so far reached 15 states/UT, 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, 5,790 tonnes in Delhi, 2,212 tonnes in Haryana, 98 tonnes in Rajasthan, 3,097 tonnes in Karnataka, 320 tonnes in Uttarakhand, 2,787 tonnes in Tamil Nadu, 2,602 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, 225 tonnes in Punjab, 513 tonnes in Kerala, 2,474 tonnes in Telangana, 38 tonnes in Jharkhand and 400 tonnes in Assam.

Criss-crossing the country, the 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 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.