Railways transports 1,195 tonnes of oxygen, highest in a day so far

This surpasses the previous high of 1,142 tonnes transported three days earlier

Oxygen Express trains delivered 1,195 tonnes of the life-saving gas across India on May 26, their highest single-day load so far, surpassing the previous high of 1,142 tonnes transported three days earlier, the Railways said on Thursday.

Amid the second wave of the coronavirus infection, the Railways has delivered over 18,980 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in more than 1,141 tankers to 15 states on Oxygen Express trains which started operations last month. Over 5,000 tonnes of oxygen has been delivered to Delhi till now, it said.

While 284 Oxygen Expresses trains have completed their journey and brought relief to various states, four trains are on the run with more than 392 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in 20 tankers.

Among the southern states, over 1,000 tonnes of oxygen has been delivered to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana.

Oxygen Express trains started their deliveries on April 24, with Maharashtra receiving 126 tonnes of the life-saving gas. The trains reached out to 15 states -- 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 3,731 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, 656 tonnes in Madhya Pradesh, 5,077 tonnes in Delhi, 1,967 tonnes in Haryana, 98 tonnes in Rajasthan, 1,653 tonnes in Karnataka, 320 tonnes in Uttarakhand, 1,550 tonnes in Tamil Nadu, 1,190 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, 225 tonnes in Punjab, 380 tonnes in Kerala, 1,312 tonnes in Telangana, 38 tonnes in Jharkhand and 160 tonnes in Assam.

Crisscrossing 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 different states in complex operational route planning scenarios.

The average speed of these critical freight trains is way above 55 kmph.