New Delhi: The first Oxygen Express train for Agra, Mathura, and Aligarh, carrying 64 metric tonnes of the Liquid Medical Oxygen, arrived here from Jharkhand's Tata Nagar on Wednesday.
"Earlier, we used to airlift oxygen or transport it by land," Additional District Magistrate Prabhakant Awasthi said.
Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force (RPF), and local police were deployed for the protection of the train at Yamuna Bridge station, Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Mustaque said.
"We will also ensure the quick and safe decanting of the containers," he said.
Besides, there was an ambulance and fire tender deployed at the spot to tackle a possible mishap. Various railway officials were also present at the railway station.
In addition to this, Andhra Pradesh will get its fifth Oxygen Express with 65.27 tonnes of LMO in 4 container tankers from Kanalus in Gujarat. The rake is bound for Guntur.
While ninth Oxygen Express to Telangana with 119.45 tonnes of LMO in 6 Container tankers loaded from Rourkela will reach Sanath Nagar in Hyderabad.
In total, 11 loaded Oxygen Expresses on run with more than 717 MT of LMO in 43 tankers, Indian Railways informed.
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So far, Oxygen Expresses have delivered nearly 11800 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen in more than 727 tankers to the Nation. 196 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey.
On average, Oxygen Expresses are delivering nearly 800 MT of LMO each day to 13 states namely Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.
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As per the record, 521 MT of Oxygen has been offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 2979 MT in UP, 498 MT in MP, 1507 MT in Haryana, 653 MT in Telangana, 97 MT in Rajasthan, 481 MT in Karnataka, 200 MT in Uttarakhand, 440 MT in Tamil Nadu, 227 MT in Andhra Pradesh, 81 MT in Punjab, 117 MT in Kerala and more than 3978 MT in Delhi.
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"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," Railways said in a statement.
(Inputs from agency)
