Oxygen Express gets set to bring air of hope to state
LUCKNOW: The railways’ newly-launched Oxygen Express would bring the much- needed relief to districts like Lucknow and Varanasi, which are in dire need of oxygen, by ensuring the supply of the medical gas there soon.
The initiative is the outcome of the state government seeking help from the railways to bring oxygen from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha.
Additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said, “We are in dire need of oxygen, which we need to bring in from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha. And putting in the traditional oxygen tankers would take nearly five to six days to complete the entire process. Hence, to expedite the whole process and to bring in Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) as early as possible, we approached the railways, which has come forward to help us and run their Oxygen Express.”
Setting the tone for one such life-sustaining endeavour, the city on Tuesday witnessed the movement of the Oxygen Express train that originated from Kandla, Gujarat and will reach Jharkhand via Lucknow. The Oxygen Express passed through Lucknow around 11.45pm. On the return journey from Jharkhand, the train would release half of the consignment in Lucknow and the rest in Varanasi, officials said.
The ACS said it was found that transporting LMO by train was two times faster than trans
porting it through road tankers.
“The entire process will take another 48 hours,” he said to HT. It is somewhat similar to an effort in Maharashtra, where the first Oxygen Express left from near Mumbai for Visakhapatnam earlier this week.
Officials with the railways said the Oxygen Express would be a boon in transporting LMO, which is a key element in the treatment of certain medical conditions during Covid-19 infection in state.
The railways has plans to transport oxygen through Roll On Roll Off (RoRo) services through road tankers with built-in oxygen chambers are placed on flat wagons.
“The road tankers placed on the flat wagons are of a specific height and 3330mm was found feasible to transport oxygen through flat wagons without affecting the overhead equipment (OHE) lines,” a railway official said.