Indian Railways runs ‘Oxygen Express’ to save lives of COVID-19 patients

KEY STORY

• To ensure the timely supply of oxygen from one place to another, the Indian Railways has launched a new initiative. Referred to as ‘Oxygen Expresses’, these are special trains that will take oxygen cylinders to people in need.

• The first Oxygen Express will run from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai tonight. The train contains Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) tankers. The tankers filled with the gas will be transported through the Ro-Ro service of the Indian Railways.

Railways is running its first Oxygen Express in its fight against COVID-19. The Ro-Ro service with 7 empty tankers departed from Kalamboli, Maharashtra for Vizag today.
Oxygen Express will move via a green corridor for loading with Liquid Medical Oxygen. pic.twitter.com/TonlClDdQf

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 19, 2021

Another Oxygen Express to go from Lucknow to Bokaro 

Another Oxygen Express started its journey from Lucknow to Bokaro via Varanasi to supply oxygen to Uttar Pradesh. A green corridor was created between Lucknow and Varanasi to facilitate the fast transportation of oxygen. The train will be covering a distance of 270 km in 4 hours 20 minutes with an average speed of 62.35 kmph.

Oxygen transportation sped up by trains, says Railways 

A notification released by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) stated that the transportation of oxygen is faster through trains and that they can run round the clock while truck drivers need breaks in between. The notification also stated that loading and unloading tankers require a ramp.

The Railways is not only transporting oxygen to patients in need but also transported essential goods from one state to another.