E-Paper
Two Oxygen Exp trains on track for destination Lucknow
Two Oxygen Express trains that aim at ending the oxygen crisis in Uttar Pradesh are expected to reach Lucknow on Saturday and Sunday morning respectively
Two Oxygen Express trains that aim at ending the oxygen crisis in Uttar Pradesh are expected to reach Lucknow on Saturday and Sunday morning respectively.
The first special train will have three oxygen tankers of 20,000 litres each. One tanker will be unloaded in Varanasi en route. The remaining two will be brought to the state capital.
Additional chief secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi confirmed one train would arrive on Saturday and said, “Of the three loaded containers, one would unload at Varanasi and two in Lucknow. Of these two, one will be sent to Kanpur and the other will be used in Lucknow itself.”
The first train left Bokaro, Jharkhand, on Friday noon.
The railways rushed the second train loaded with empty oxygen tankers to fetch another consignment from Bokaro.
“The load is ready, it is all set to leave Bokaro for Lucknow,” said Dhaneshwar Mohanta, additional divisional railway manager of the Adra division of South Eastern Railway (SER). Mohanta was overseeing the entire train operation in Bokaro.
The officials with Northern Railway (NR) said the (second) train is expected to reach state capital on Sunday morning.
“The Oxygen Express that aims at ensuring the supply of oxygen to UP has left Bokaro Steel Plant. We have also created a green corridor to minimise the total journeying time. Railway is making spontaneous efforts to ensure fast and regular supply of oxygen in states,” reads a tweet by railway minister Piyush Goyal soon after the (first) train left Bokaro on Friday.
Sanjay Tripathi, divisional railway manager (DRM) of Northern Railway, Lucknow, said the train was moving at an average speed of 63km per hour and it was expected to reach Lucknow on Saturday morning.
The NR DRM also said the other Oxygen Express train was rushed to Bokaro to bring in more LMO in order to meet the crisis situation.
Officials with Northern Railway (NR) said they were expecting more such trains in the near future that would be a boon in curbing the “oxygen crisis-like situation” that has emerged following the sudden spike in the demand of LMO that plays a key role in giving relief to Covid-19 patients.
The UP government had approached the railways to help it in bringing in LMO from Jharkhand, Bengal and Odisha in order to meet the increased demand in the state, especially in Lucknow, Varanasi and Ayodhya (Faizabad) districts.
