New Delhi, May 29

Continuing its journey of bringing relief by delivering Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) to various States across the country, the Indian Railways has delivered over 20,770 metric tonnes of LMO in more than 1237 tankers to various States across the country, said an official statement.

In another move, Indian Railways has loaded 35,015 million tonnes of cargo — like coal, containers, minerals and ores and cement — till May 28 this month, registering a 40 per cent growth over the same time last year, according to Railways data on May 29. On a cumulative basis for the present fiscal, Railways has carried 72,771 million tonne of cargo reflecting a 51.46 per cent growth year-on-year.

The growth rates for freight for the month so far are on a low base as the country was under a national lockdown triggered by Covid-19 during the same time last year. While India is facing a second wave now, the nature of lockdowns is different this year.

This year, as India reels under the second wave, the Railways is moving oxygen expresses – which are freight trains carrying oxygen to various parts of country. As per the release, Oxygen Expresses started their deliveries 35 days back on April 24.

Indian Railways now picks up oxygen from places like Hapa , Vadodara, Mundra in the West and Rourkela, Durgapur, Tatanagar, Angul in the East and then delivers it to States of Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Assam in complex operational route planning scenarios, added the release.

Assam received its third Oxygen Express Saturday with 80 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen(LMO) in four tankers. Amongst the Southern States, delivery of LMO to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana crossed 1600 MT each. Oxygen relief by Oxygen Expresses reached out to 15 States —Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam.

Till now Oxygen Expresses offloaded LMO in around 39 cities/towns in 15 states across the country namely Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Bareilly, Gorakhpur and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Sagar, Jabalpur, Katni and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Mumbai and Solapur in Maharashtra, Hyderabad in Telangana, Faridabad and Gurugram in Haryana, Tughlakabad, Delhi Cantt and Okhla in Delhi, Kota and Kanakpara in Rajasthan, Bengaluru in Karnataka, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Nellore, Guntur, Tadipatri and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Ernakulam in Kerala, Tiruvallur, Chennai, Tuticorin, Coimbatore & Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Bhatinda and Phillaur in Punjab, Kamrup in Assam and Ranchi in Jharkhand.

The Railways has mapped different routes with oxygen supply locations and keeps itself ready with any emerging need of the States. States provide tankers to the Indian Railways for bringing LMO.

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