Nagpur, April 23
The Oxygen Express arrived in the city on Friday night. The train carrying seven oxygen tankers has come from Visakhapatnam, and would be taking these tankers to other nearby cities too.
The city got three of the seven tankers carried by the train. The tankers carry 15 Metric Tonnes (MT) of oxygen each.
The quantity is enough to supply to 4,500 patients for 24 hours, a Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) official said. However, by the time the news was written, it was not clear to which hospitals these tankers would be sent.
It is worth mentioning here that in view of the shortage of oxygen caused by the drastic rise in number of Covid cases in Maharashtra,
Looking at the shortage of oxygen in Maharashtra, the State government had appealed to the centre for the supply of liquid oxygen. Under this, the first Oxygen Express with empty tankers reached Visakhapatnam via Badnera, Wardha, Nagpur, Raipur under the Green Corridor, leaving Kalamboli station in Mumbai at 8.05 pm on April 19.
Oxygen Express was dispatched at 11.42 pm on Thursday night after filling a total of 105 MT of liquid oxygen in seven tankers, which were loaded on the train from the steel plant yard. The train, after traveling for nearly 20 hours, came to the loop line of the Homeland platform of Nagpur railway station at 8.10 pm on Friday night. After this, three tanker wagons were separated from the train for Nagpur and with the help of a rail engine Shunting was done on the ramp of the Homeland platform.
After this, the work of bringing the tankers on the road was going on till the news report was being filed. However, it was not clear as to which hospitals of the city, these three tankers would be sent. An NMC official said that one tanker may ne sent to GMCH or Mayo. one tanker may be sent to Amravati and a one tanker will be given to cylinder refilling company, but the final decision on this is yet to be taken.
Train ran at an average
speed of 65 kmph
The liquid oxygen tanker loaded on the Oxygen Express was tightly tied to the over-dynamic chassis of the wagon. Since the tanks had oxygen and the tankers were mounted at some altitude, the train was run at an average speed of 65 kmph due to a tunnel, bridges and other obstacles on the route. As it was brought under the Green Corridor, it took same amount of time (20 hours) to reach Nagpur as it takes for other trains which run at higher speeds. The railways have earned `5.40 lakhs by transporting the liquid oxygen.
Oxygen Express
left for Nashik
After unloading 3 of the 7 tanker, the Oxygen Express left for Nashik with the remaining 4 tankers at around 8.45 pm.
Officers present
on the occasion
During the arrival at Oxygen Express at Nagpur station, divisional railway manger Richa Khare, Central Railway, Nagpur division, additional divisional railway manager Anoop Kumar Satpathy, senior divisional commercial manager Krishnath Patil, RPF commandant Ashutosh Pandey, municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B, additional commissioner Jalaj Sharma and other officials were present.