Maharashtra: Oxygen Express reaches Nashik, four tankers unloaded

The train was carrying 100 tonnes of medical liquid oxygen from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd in Vishakhapatnam

The first Oxygen Express carrying oxygen for Covid-19 patients arrived in Nashik on Saturday.

The special train came from Visakhapatnam and took a day's time to reach Nashik.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has thanked his Orrisa counterpart Naveen Patnaik for sparing oxygen for the worst-affected state.

“I thank him for helping in procurement and transportation of oxygen from Odisha to Maharashtra and for standing by each other in these crucial times, as one nation truly,” Thackeray said.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said the train has reached Nashik and four oxygen tankers have been unloaded to provide additional oxygen to the patients.

Railways took the movement of oxygen express as a challenge and successfully ran the first oxygen express from Kalamboli to Vizag and back upto Nasik.

The moment railways got the request for, made ramps at various places immediately for the movement of liquid medical oxygen tankers. It must be appreciated the work done by the team in Mumbai as the ramp was made in only 24 hrs time at Kalamboli.

Read | Hospitals choking on oxygen shortage

“For the movement of Ro-Ro service Railways had to map the entire route considering the various constraints like Ghat sections, Road Over Bridges, Tunnels, Curves, Platform canopies, Over Head Equipment etc. at certain locations. Because height is an important aspect in this movement, Railways mapped the route via Vasai. The model of road tanker T1618 with a height of 3320 mm was found feasible to be placed on flat wagons. The longer route via Vasai was charted as Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC) is not permitted to travel in Ghat sections over Mumbai division,” a Central Railway spokesperson said.

As oxygen is cryogenic and hazardous chemical, Railways have to avoid sudden acceleration, deceleration, have to check pressures in between, especially when it is in loaded condition.

The distance between Kalamboli and Vizag is more than 1,850 kms which was completed by these tankers only in about 50 hours. 7 tankers with more than 100 tons LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen) were loaded in 10 hrs and transported back to Nagpur in only 21 hrs. Railways unloaded 3 tankers in Nagpur yesterday, and the remaining 4 tankers reached Nashik at 10.25 am today, in just 12 hours.

“Transportation of oxygen through trains is faster over long distances than road transport. Transportation through rail takes 2 days while through road it takes 3 days. Trains can run 24 hours in a day but truck drivers need to take halts etc. The green corridor is created for the faster movement of these tankers and monitoring of movement was done at the apex level as we know that it’s a difficult time for our Nation and Nation is first for us,” the spokesperson added.