COVID-19: Train carrying 120 tonnes of liquid oxygen reaching Delhi at noon

Around 12 noon today, a train carrying 120.18 tonnes of oxygen will reach New Delhi for relief of COVID patients in different hospitals. The train left the steel city of Durgapur in West Bengal on Tuesday morning, said a statement from Eastern Railways.

The train is carrying six oxygen containers each capable of carrying approximately 20.03 tonnes of liquid oxygen.

According to railway officials, this will be the fourth train carrying medical oxygen to reach Delhi.

First train to Delhi

Against a backdrop of acute oxygen crisis that prompted hospitals to urge Delhi High Court and the administration for help, the first train to carrying oxygen reached Delhi Cantonment Station on April 27.

It carried 70 tonnes of liquid oxygen from Raigarh in Chhattisgarh.

Since April 19

On Sunday the railways’ ministry said that between April 19 and May 1, they have delivered 1,094 tonnes of liquid oxygen in 74 tankers to different locations across the country. While these trains had completed their journey, two more trains carrying 61.46 tonnes of oxygen were proceeding towards their destinations, the railways said on Sunday.

The train to reach Delhi on Tuesday at noon will raise the total tonnage of liquid medical oxygen delivered by the railways to 1,275.64.

Defence forces

 Indian Railways joined hands with Indian Air Force and Navy to deliver liquid medical oxygen to the regions of critical shortage to combat the second COVID-19 wave.

The train will pass through a green corridor through Asansol, Sitarampur, Dhanbad, Mughalsarai on its way to Delhi.

Since the beginning of the crisis in medical oxygen in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat, the Indian Air Force has brought cryogenic oxygen containers from different countries in Europe and Asia such as the UK, Germany, Thailand, Dubai and Singapore. It has also carried dozens of medical oxygen containers from one party of the country to another.

Emergency financial powers

While the armed forces and organizations under the defence ministry have opened up hospitals for civilian use in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, DRDO has contributed specially made oxygen cylinders to Andhra Pradesh government for storing and transporting oxygen.

The defence ministry has already special provisions to grant emergency financial power to the armed forces to help expedite efforts to combat the oxygen shortage. This power will help commanding officers in different regions to establish quarantine and manage facilities and hospitals and carry out various other works against the pandemic.

These powers have been granted for three months, to begin with from May 1.