Indian Railways runs second oxygen express to Delhi

The Oxygen Special freight train hauling six loaded containers departed from the Container Corporation Terminal near Durgapur at 12:45 pm on Saturday. This is the first Oxygen Express that is not RO-RO, a Railway official informed.

New Delhi:Indian Railways has deployed the second Oxygen Express to Delhi, carrying six containers of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) from Durgapur, West Bengal. This freight train is expected to reach Delhi by Sunday.

This Oxygen Special container train carrying six loaded containers departed from the Container Corporation Terminal near Durgapur at 12:45 pm on Saturday. This is the first Oxygen Express that is not RO-RO, a Railway official informed.

Delhi will receive its 120 MT of LMO in six tankers from Durgapur in the next 24 hours

This train is carrying cryogenic tanks that were being flown in by the Indian Air Force from Singapore. Six oxygen tank containers have been loaded. The total weight of oxygen in each container is 20.03 tonnes, while the width of the container is 2.42 metre and height from the rail level is 3.5 metre. This means that the second Oxygen Express will haul 120 tonnes of oxygen to the national capital.

"Oxygen tanks are being loaded from Durgapur, West Bengal on Oxygen Express to provide Liquid Medical Oxygen for patients in Delhi. These cryogenic tanks were flown in from Singapore by @IAF_MCC to strengthen our battle against the COVID-19 pandemic (sic)," Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.

Haryana received its first and second Oxygen express today carrying 108 metric tonnes (MT) of LMO in 5 tankers. Third Oxygen express carrying 30.6 MT LMO in 2 tankers has already started from Angul and currently on its way to Haryana.

Madhya Pradesh received its second Oxygen Express carrying 70.77 MT of LMO to Jabalpur and Sagar from Bokaro on Friday. The third Oxygen Express to Jabalpur carrying 22.19 MT Oxygen Express is on its way from Rourkela and is expected to reach Jabalpur by tonight.

Uttar Pradesh will be receiving its eighth Oxygen express en route from Bokaro carrying 44.88 MT LMO in three tankers. Uttar Pradesh has received approximately 355 MT LMO so far and more is on its way to Lucknow.

Delhi will receive its 120 MT of LMO in six tankers from Durgapur in the next 24 hours.

Telangana will also receive its first Oxygen Express, currently on the way from Angul carrying 124.26 MT LMO.

So far, Indian Railways has delivered more than 841.85 MT LMO -- Maharashtra (174 MT), Uttar Pradesh (355 MT), Madhya Pradesh (134.77 MT), Delhi (70 MT) and Haryana (107.95 MT). Telangana will receive its first Oxygen Express shortly.