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Oxygen Express reaches Lucknow from Bokaro with 30,000 litres of life-saving gas
The train is expected to bring much-needed relief to the state capital and other oxygen-starved districts of Uttar Pradesh that witnessed a sudden increase in demand for oxygen for Covid 19 patients.
Packed with around 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), the Oxygen Express reached Lucknow’s Charbagh Railway Station at around 6:30 am on Saturday.
“The train, Oxygen Express, has arrived in UP on Saturday. Of the three trucks, one was offloaded in Varanasi while two were brought to Lucknow. Each truck is of 15,000 litres capacity,” said Awanish Kumar Awasthi, additional chief secretary (Home), who was supervising the operation.
Watch: Oxygen Express train with 30,000 litres of liquid medical oxygen reaches UP
Government officials said the train is expected to bring much-needed relief to the state capital and other oxygen-starved districts of Uttar Pradesh that witnessed a sudden increase in demand for oxygen for Covid 19 patients.
The train, which is said to be the first-of-its-kind rail operation in history, left Bokaro, Jharkhand, loaded with three truckloads of LMO at around 2 pm on Friday.
Awasthi said the quantity of oxygen that has reached Lucknow is enough to meet half of the total oxygen demand in the state capital. “Things will surely improve in Lucknow. The total amount of oxygen arrived would be enough to meet half of the total demand here,” added Awasthi.
On Friday, Lucknow reported 5,862 fresh cases and 14 fatalities. The total number of active cases under treatment in Lucknow is around 53,475. The death toll in Lucknow has gone up to 1,598.
Besides, he also said that UP has rushed another Oxygen Express train on Saturday morning to fetch oxygen from Bokaro to meet the increased oxygen demand of other districts following the rise in the Covid 19 cases.
Sanjay Trupathi, divisional railway manager (DRM) Northern Railway (NR) Lucknow, who was part of the operation said, “The operation was successful. It’s was perhaps the first of its kind train operation. We have sent another train, loaded with 4 empty oxygen tankers to Bokaro. The train is expected to reach UP on Monday,” said Sanjay Tripathi, DRM NR.
He said such operations would be a boon in curbing the ‘oxygen crisis’ that has emerged following the sudden spike in its demand.
The transport department has roped in around 40 oxygen-carrying tankers from across the state, for the purpose.
The initiative is a part of the UP government’s move under which it had approached the Railways to help them out in bringing in LMO from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha to meet the increased demand in the state, especially in districts like Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad.
Government officials said that traditional oxygen tankers would take nearly 5 to 6 days to bring in oxygen from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha and transporting it by Railways is two times faster. The railway ministry pressed in Roll On Roll Off (RORO) services for the same.
On Friday, the state reported another single-day high with 37,238 fresh Covid-19 cases and 199 deaths, according to state health department data. The total number of cases now stands at 10,13,370 and the death toll has reached 10,737.
Currently, the state has 2,73,653 active cases, including 2,18,000 patients in home isolation, official data showed. While 22,566 patients were discharged during the day, 7,28,980 patients have recovered so far. UP’s total caseload has crossed the 10-lakh (one million) mark in 418 days since the first case was reported on March 2, 2020.
