LOADS OF RELIEF ARRIVE FOR LUCKNOWITES IN COVID BATTLE
Special train brings 30,000 litres of LMO; the quantity of oxygen that reached Lucknow is enough to meet half the total demand in the state capital, according to officials
LUCKNOW : Packed with around 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), the Oxygen Express reached the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow at around 6.30am on Saturday.
Government officials said the arrival of the train would give the much-needed relief to the state capital and other oxygenstarved districts of UP that have witnessed a sudden increase in the demand for oxygen which plays a key role in the recovery of seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
The train had left Bokaro, Jharkhand, laden with three truckloads of LMO at around 2pm on Friday. “The train—Oxygen Express — has arrived in UP on Saturday. Of the three trucks (on the train), one was offloaded in Varanasi while two were brought to Lucknow. Each truck is of 15,000 litres capacity,” said Awanish Kumar Awasthi, ACS (Home).
LUCKNOW: Packed with around 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), the Oxygen Express reached the Charbagh railway station in Lucknow at around 6.30am on Saturday.
Government officials said the arrival of the train would give the much-needed relief to the state capital and other oxygenstarved districts of UP that have witnessed a sudden increase in the demand for oxygen which plays a key role in the recovery of seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
The train had left Bokaro, Jharkhand, laden with three truckloads of LMO at around 2pm on Friday.
“The train—Oxygen Express — has arrived in UP on Saturday. Of the three trucks (on the train), one was offloaded in Varanasi while two were brought to Lucknow. Each truck is of 15,000 litres capacity,” said Awanish Kumar Awasthi, additional chief secretary (Home), who was supervising the entire train operation.
The ACS (home) said the quantity of oxygen that reached Lucknow was enough to meet half the total oxygen demand in the state capital.
“Things will surely improve in Lucknow. The total amount of oxygen arrived would be enough to meet half of the total demand here,” added Awasthi.
Besides, he said UP had rushed another Oxygen Express train on Saturday morning to fetch oxygen from Bokaro in order to meet the increased oxygen demand of other districts following the rise in the Covid-19 cases.
Sanjay Tripathi, divisional railway manager (DRM) Northern Railway (NR), Lucknow, who was the part of the operation, said, “The operation was successful. It was perhaps the first-of-its kind train operation. We have sent another train, laden with four empty oxygen tankers, to Bokaro. The train is expected to reach UP on Monday.”
He said such operations would be a boon in curbing the “oxygen crisis” like situation that emerged following the sudden spike in oxygen demand.
The transport department has roped in around 40 oxygencarrying tankers from across the state for the purpose.
The UP government had approached the railways to help it in bringing in LMO from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha in order to meet the increased demand of LMO in state, especially in the districts of Lucknow, Varanasi and Ayodhya (Faizabad).
Government officials had said that traditional oxygen tankers would take nearly five to six days to bring in oxygen from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha.
But transporting it by railways is two times faster. Railways is utilising Roll on Roll off (RoRo) services through which road tankers with oxygen chambers are placed on flat wagons for the purpose.