With States clamouring for the supply of oxygen, the Indian Railways has chalked out a major plan for unhindered transportation of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) across the key corridors of the country through Oxygen Express trains. During the last 24 hours the Railway Oxygen Expresses delivered nearly 150 tonnes of oxygen to health authorities in Nashik and Lucknow.
An Oxygen Express train carrying three tankers of liquid medical oxygen arrived in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday morning giving a big relief to the State health infrastructure battling a grim phase of the pandemic.
For the movement of the oxygen train, a green corridor was created between Lucknow and Varanasi. The distance of 270 km was covered by the train in 4 hours 20 minutes with an average speed of 62.35 kmph.
“Two trucks of medical oxygen arrived in Lucknow around 6.30 am while one truck was offloaded in Varanasi. Each truck has a capacity of containing 15,000 liters of medical oxygen” informed Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi to media.
He said both the trucks may be used for Lucknow and a decision will be taken soon. The train arrived from Bokaro in Jharkhand. Incidentally, Oxygen tankers filled with LMO at Visakhapatnam and Bokaro are presently being transported through Ro-Ro service of Indian Railways.
“The arrival of two trucks of medical oxygen will meet around half the demand of Lucknow for Saturday. The state capital will now be in a better position,” Awasthi said.
The first Oxygen Express train that left Visakhapatnam on Thursday reached Nagpur in Maharashtra on Friday evening with seven tankers carrying the life-saving medical gas.
Amid the spiralling coronavirus cases in the country and more specifically in affected States like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Jharkhand, the demand for medical oxygen has shot up.
After taking stock of the situation, the Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry explored the technical feasibility of transportation of LMO. It was decided that LMO has to be transported through Roll On Roll Off (RO RO) service with road tankers placed on flat wagons and the services of which has begun by creating a “Green Corridor” on the existing railway tracks.
In order to ensure that parameters of transportation are tested, trials were conducted at various locations during the last week.
Several States including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi State Governments approached Ministry of Railways to explore whether liquid medical oxygen (LMO) tankers could be moved by Railways and their supply is likely to be delivered shortly, said a rail official.
Zonal Railways have been alerted on the demands from State Governments. Railway Board has directed concerned General Managers to be fully prepared and proactively assist the State and Central Government Agencies in movement of Oxygen by Rail and has also nominated Nodal Officers in Railway Board.
The Union Health Ministry last Sunday said it has expedited installation of 162 PSA oxygen generation plants in health facilities across the country, while the Indian Railways announced special trains to transport the life-saver and several industry majors pitched in by diverting supply to hospitals.
Under the initiative, empty tankers are being loaded with liquid medical oxygen from Visakhapatnam, Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Bokaro. The need for transportation of oxygen through trains was materialised as trains are faster over long distances as compared to road transport.
Trains can operate 24 hours, while truck drivers would need to take breaks.
The PSA plants manufacture oxygen and help hospitals become self-sufficient in their requirement for medical oxygen, while also reducing the burden on the national grid for its supply of medical oxygen. The country’s largest steel-maker SAIL, Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India are supplying medical oxygen to health facilities. According to the Steel Ministry, 28 oxygen plants located in the steel facilities of both public and private sectors are supplying about 1,500 tonnes of medical oxygen every day. Also, an additional stock of 30,000 MT, including the safety stock, is being made available for medical use.
