New Delhi: To overcome all odds and find innovative solutions, Indian Railways continues its journey of bringing relief by supplying Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) to various states across the country. Oxygen Express trains have crossed the supply mark of 34,000 MT LMO serving the nation. Till date, Indian Railways has supplied about 34760 MT of LMO in more than 1976 tankers to various states of the country.
It is noteworthy that so far 474 Oxygen Express have completed their journey and have brought relief in various states.
Oxygen Express has supplied more than 20,000 MT of LMOs to the southern states of the country.
Tamil Nadu has received maximum LMO from Oxygen Express. So far 6476 MT of LMO has been supplied to Tamil Nadu.
So far, Oxygen Express trains have supplied over 3700, 4800 and 4700 MT LMOs to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka respectively.
Till the issue of this release, 1 Oxygen Express train was proceeding towards its destination carrying more than 74 MT LMO in 4 tankers.
It is worth noting that 65 days ago on 24th April, Oxygen Express trains started with the supply of 126 MT to Maharashtra.
Indian Railways aims to supply LMOs to the demanding states in the shortest possible time.
Oxygen Express trains have carried oxygen to 15 states of Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam.
Till the issue of this release, Maharashtra is 614 MT, Uttar Pradesh approx 3797 MT, Madhya Pradesh 656 MT, Delhi 5791 MT, Haryana 2354 MT, Rajasthan 98 MT, Karnataka 4697 MT, Uttarakhand 320 MT, Tamil Nadu has received 6476 MT, Andhra Pradesh 4824 MT, Punjab 225 MT, Kerala 513 MT, Telangana 3791 MT, Jharkhand 38 MT and Assam 560 MT.
So far, oxygen has been supplied through Oxygen Express trains to 39 cities in 15 states of the country, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Sagar, Jabalpur, Katni and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Mumbai and Solapur in Maharashtra, Hyderabad in Telangana, Faridabad and Gurugram in Haryana, Delhi Cantt and Okhla in Delhi, Kota and Kanakapara in Rajasthan, Bangalore in Karnataka, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Nellore, Guntur in Andhra Pradesh, Oxygen has been supplied to Tadipatri and Visakhapatnam, Ernakulam in Kerala, Tiruvallur, Chennai, Tuticorin, Coimbatore and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Bathinda and Phillaur in Punjab, Kamarupa in Assam and Ranchi in Jharkhand.
Indian Railways has identified various routes from oxygen supply locations and has prepared itself with the emerging need in the states. States provide tankers to Indian Railways to bring LMOs.
To reach every nook and corner of the country, Indian Railways is lifting oxygen from places like Hapa, Baroda, Mundra in the West and Rourkela, Durgapur, Tatanagar, Angul in the East and then Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
In order to ensure oxygen supply at the earliest possible time, Railways is setting new benchmarks and higher benchmarks in the operation of Oxygen Express freight trains. The average speed of these important goods trains is more than 55 in most of the long distance cases. The operational teams are working round the clock in the most challenging environments in various zones to operate in the high priority Green Corridor, with an aim to ensure oxygen supply at the fastest possible time, with the most urgent requirement. The technical pause for crew change in various sections has been reduced to 1 minute.
The tracks have been kept open and in extremely alert condition to ensure high speed of Oxygen Express trains. All this work was done in a systematic manner so that there is no lag in other freight operations.
Operation of new Oxygen Express trains is a highly dynamic process and the figures are being updated continuously. Several other loaded Oxygen Express trains are expected to start operating at night.