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New Delhi: The Indian Railways has so far delivered more than 11,030 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) in over 675 tankers to various states across the country, the national transporter said on Tuesday.
Oxygen Expresses had been delivering nearly 800 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen to the country daily in the last few days.
Since April 19, when the first empty trucks left from Mumbai to be loaded with oxygen, marking the beginning of the Oxygen Express service, the Railways has upscaled its operations to deliver over 11,030 tonnes of medical oxygen to 13 states.
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Criss-crossing the country, the Indian Railways is picking up oxygen from places like Hapa and Mundra in the west and Rourkela, Durgapur, Tatanagar, Angul in the east and then delivering it to Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh in complex operational route planning scenarios.
"In order to ensure that oxygen relief reaches in the fastest time possible, the Railways is creating new standards and unprecedented benchmarks in running of Oxygen Express Freight Trains. The average speed of these critical freight trains is way above 55 in most cases over long distances.
"Running on a high priority green corridor, with a highest sense of urgency, operational teams of various zones are working round the clock in the most challenging circumstances to ensure that oxygen reaches in the fastest possible time frame. Technical stoppages have been reduced to 1 minute for crew changes over different sections," the statement from the ministry said.
Nearly 175 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey so far and brought relief to various states.
A total of 521 tonnes of oxygen has been offloaded so far in Maharashtra, nearly 2,858 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, 476 tonnes to Madhya Pradesh, 1,427 tonnes in Haryana, 565 tonnes in Telangana, 40 tonnes in Rajasthan, 480 tonnes in Karnataka, 200 tonnes in Uttarakhand, 350 tonnes in Tamil Nadu, 81 tonnes in Punjab, 118 tonnes in Kerela and nearly 3,794 tonnes in Delhi.
The Railways has mapped different routes with oxygen supply locations and keeps itself ready for any emerging need of states, which provide tankers to the Railways for bringing liquid medical oxygen.
