Amid complaints of shortage of medical oxygen in several parts of the country, Indian Railways on Sunday said it will operate Oxygen Express to ensure quick transportation of liquid medical oxygen tankers.
The first set of Oxygen Express trains are likely to start from Maharashtra to Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha carrying empty tankers. On its return journey, the train will bring oxygen-filled tankers to Mumbai.
The Railways Board also instructed the zonal offices to be in touch with the state governments to get their requirement to operate Oxygen Express.
"Railways is leaving no stone unturned in the battle against Covid-19. We will be running Oxygen express trains using green corridors to get Oxygen in bulk and rapidly to patients," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted on Sunday.
The Centre has received a number of complaints of shortage of oxygen from many states to treat a certain category of Covid-19-hit patients.
Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) will be transported through Roll On Roll Off (RO-RO) service with road tankers placed on flat wagons.
After completion of technical trials, empty tankers would be moved from Kalamboli/Boisar railway stations in and near Mumbai, and sent to Vizag and Jamshedpur/Rourkela/Bokaro, for loading of liquid medical oxygen tankers.
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra state governments had approached the Ministry of Railways to explore whether Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) tankers could be moved by Indian Railways.
In order to ensure that parameters of transportation are tested, trials were conducted at various locations, the railways said.
Based on these measurements, route clearances were taken and it was found that it would be possible to undertake movements as RO-RO as ODC (over dimensional consignment) with speed restrictions on some sections depending on overhead clearances, the railways said.
(Published 18 April 2021, 15:09 IST)
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