Train with 70 tonnes of oxygen to reach Delhi by Monday night: Railways

The first Oxygen Express train for Delhi carrying around 70 tonnes of the lifesaving gas will depart from Jindal Steel Works plant in Raigarh on Sunday night Chairman Railway Board Suneet Sharma saidThe train with four tankers will reach Delhi by Monday night he saidThe railways has chalked out plans to transport medical oxygen from Angul Kalingnagar Rourkela and Raigarh to Delhi and NCR region Sharma said adding the Delhi government has been advised to get road tankers ready to obtain the oxygenFirst Oxygen Express for the national capital carrying four tankers with 70 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen will depart tonight for Delhi Cantonment from Jindal Steel Works Raigarh It will reach Delhi by Monday night the railway board chairman saidEvery few hours as it has been for the last days hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs has been sending out desperate messages seeking help on social media and other platforms flagging their dwindling stocks of oxygenIn view of the high demand for oxygen in the country following a record spike in coronavirus cases the Railways has decided to run Oxygen Express trains to transport liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the countryTankers are being transported on flat wagons by trains for quick supply of medical oxygenWe have carried 150 tonnes of oxygen to Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra till now and by tonight we will move 150 tonnes more About Delhi we are readying four tankers from Jindal Steel Plant in Raigarh Plans are ready to move oxygen for Delhi and NCR region from plants in Angul Raigarh Kalingnagar and Rourkela We have asked the state government to keep their trucks ready Sharma saidOfficials said the Delhi government in its letter to the Railways has asked it to load liquid medical oxygen from nine locationsThese have been examined and the feasibility analysed after which the state government was informed that oxygen can be transported from seven out of these nine locations The other two sites were not feasible due to technical reasons They were also requested to arrange tankers and place indent at stations The Assistant Divisional Railway Manager Delhi is being nominated as nodal officer for the purpose an official saidDelhi reported a staggering 348 deaths due to COVID19 as hospitals in the national capital continued to grapple with a severe shortage of medical oxygen As many as 24331 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hoursAsked if the Railways will cut down on its services due to the surge in COVID19 infections Sharma said trains will keep runningDespite COVID trains will continue to run Wherever there is demand we are increasing services We can rationalise service where demand is less Over 70 per cent of the trains are currently in operation he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever