Gasping for breath, Delhi, UP and Andhra request Railway for ‘Oxygen Express’

Facing an acute scarcity of medical oxygen amid rising Covid circumstances, the state governments in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and UT Delhi have requested the Indian Railway to move oxygen tankers from numerous vegetation throughout the nation to their respective states.
The Railway launched the ‘Oxygen Express’ service for sooner transportation of medical oxygen to states going through a scarcity of life-saving fuel. Maharashtra has already positioned a request earlier than the railway for transportation of oxygen from Vizag and the prepare is now returning again to the state.

While UP is requisitioning oxygen from the Bokaro metal plant and the Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat, Delhi has requested oxygen to be lifted from the Rourkela metal plant in Odisha, officers stated. Andhra Pradesh has made a request for oxygen to be transported from Angul in Odisha to Vijaywada.
“Various states are asking us for movement of oxygen by trains including. Just now we have received a request from Delhi to move oxygen from Rourkela and some other plants. The details are being worked out. We have told them (the Delhi government) to keep their tankers ready. Our wagons and locomotives are ready. Our ramps are ready at different locations in the NCR region. We expect the movement to take place shortly,” Railway Board Chairman and CEO Suneet Sharma stated.
On different states sending related requests, Sharma stated, “We have already run one Express from Maharashtra to Vizag and it is now coming back. The second is requirement from UP which is being done from Bokaro. The train has already left Bokaro with three tankers. UP has put another request to move liquid oxygen from Reliance refinery in Jamnagar. We are in close touch with State, Western Railways and RIL to work this out. Andhra Pradesh has asked us to move tankers from Vijaywada to Angul in Odisha where there is a steel plant. We have already identified wagons and ramps from where tankers will be carried to Angul and then come back with oxygen. It should happen in the next couple of days.”
Both Delhi and UP, which have seen an enormous surge in Covid-19 circumstances up to now couple of weeks, are going through a shortage of medical oxygen. Delhi is especially troubled with an enormous shortfall of 220 MT in its oxygen demand. Many hospitals in Delhi have reported regularly working out of oxygen and sufferers dying for the shortage of it.
On Friday morning, 25 vital sufferers at Sir Gangaram Hospital died after the ability ran out of oxygen. Hospitals have additionally began turning away sufferers citing lack of oxygen to assist them.
In the wake of the disaster, the Centre had just lately allowed industrial oxygen to be diverted for medical use even because the railways began ‘Oxygen Express’ to hold oxygen tankers by inexperienced corridors in a bid to make sure sooner transportation.

The first Oxygen Express left two days again from Mumbai to Vizag and is at present on its approach again carrying seven tankers (112 MT) of oxygen. One tanker has 16 tonnes of payload. The prepare is meant to achieve Nagpur later within the day after which to Nashik and different locations within the state.
“We are demanding more tankers so that all our rakes can be fully utilised. There is of course the challenge for states to get more tankers. But railways is fully ready to meet all demands,” Sharma stated.

The chairman stated working the oxygen Express had been a novel problem for the Railways as all crucial logistics needed to be moved at a brief discover. As many of the oxygen vegetation are within the japanese a part of the nation, trains have to maneuver throughout the size and breadth of the nation, sources stated.
“Then the railways had to map the entire route as large parts had ghats. New ramps had to be built and specific size tankers had to be identified which could pass through tunnels, platform canopy and overbridges. To manage their height, tyres of many tankers had to be deflated. Since oxygen is cryogenic, you cannot move at a very high speed. Curves and specific accelerations and decelerations had to be worked out,” Sharma stated.