Indian Railways transports over 350 tonnes of oxygen from cyclone-hit areas in last 2 days

The railways reached the milestone of transporting 10,000 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen on its 'Oxygen Express' trains on Monday morning, and the service now covers 13 states, Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma said.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways'Western Railway has not let the cyclone Tauktae affect its Mission Oxygen Supply and WR is carrying Oxygen(LMO) from its terminals at Hapa, Mundra and Vadodara in Gujarat’s cyclone-affected areas without any break.

Western Railway has carried 214 tonnes on 16 May and 151 tonnes on 17 May from Gujarat to various parts of the country. WR started carrying the oxygen tankers from 25 April 2021 and is carrying on average 134 tonnes oxygen daily.

Till today Western Railway has carried 3057 tonnes of oxygen from its terminals and is continuing to arrange the loading and transporting LMO despite cyclone, ensuring uninterrupted supply of oxygen to the states. Central Railway is also fully prepared to handle any situation arising out of cyclone and keeping the oxygen express movement normal.

On 17 May, Central Railway transported 8 empty Oxygen tankers from Nagpur to Angul, Odisha for filling (LMO) and carrying back to Nagpur. Shri Alok Kansal, General Manager, Western & Central Railway convened a high-level meeting and issued instructions for planning and readiness for handing situation arising out of cyclone. He is personally monitoring the LMO transportation during the cyclone and has spoken the Chief Secretary of Gujrat and Municipal Commissioner of MCGM for extending full support by railways in handling the cyclone and also in continuing the transportation of oxygen even in this adverse situation.

According to a senior railway official Western Railway carried 214 tonnes and 151 tonnes of LMO respectively to various parts of the country on 16th and 17th, May, 2021.

On 16 May, 2021, Western Railway ran three Oxygen Express trains from Hapa in Gujarat. Out of these, two were bound to Delhi Cantt. while the other was run to Kankpura, Uttar Pradesh.

The tankers were provided by M/s Reliance Industries, Jamnagar. On 17th May, 2021, Western Railway ran an Oxygen Express train from Vadodara to Delhi Cantt. The tankers were supplied by M/s. Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel. Another Oxygen Express was run from Hapa to Delhi Cantt.