Oxygen Express: Indian Railways to deliver over 140 MT liquid oxygen in 24 hours; details

So far, 10 containers having approximately 150 tonnes of liquid Oxygen have been carried in total.

Indian Railways, on a mission mode, is going to deliver more than 140 MT liquid oxygen in 24 hours. As many as nine tankers are already on the run currently, out of which five reached Lucknow by last night and the remaining four containers of LMO which have started from Bokaro are expected to reach the city of Lucknow today. So far, Indian Railways’ Oxygen Express has been operated between Mumbai to Vizag via Nagpur to Nashik as well as Lucknow to Bokaro and back. According to a statement issued by Railway Ministry on 25 April 2021, so far, 10 containers having approximately 150 tonnes of liquid Oxygen have been carried in total.

According to the ministry, one Oxygen Express train carrying four tankers (nearly 70 Metric tonnes of LMO) will depart tonight for the national capital from Raigarh, Chattisgarh. The national transporter has also informed Delhi Government to obtain the road tankers. Besides, Indian Railways are ready for oxygen containers’ movement on container wagons from Durgapur to Delhi as well. Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways is fully prepared to carry oxygen on these railway routes:

• For the delivery of more LMO to the state of Maharashtra, the national transporter has planned to transport Oxygen from Jamnagar to Mumbai as well as for Nagpur/Pune from Vizg/Angul.
• To deliver Liquid Medical Oxygen for the state of Telangana, Indian Railways has mapped the route from Angul to Secunderabad.
• For Andhra Pradesh, Indian Railways has decided to transport LMO from vacancy Angul to Vijayawada.
• For the state of Madhya Pradesh, the national transporter has mapped the route from Jamshedpur to Jabalpur for the transportation of LMO.

Being a cryogenic cargo, Liquid Oxygen has various limitations such as maximum speed at which it can be carried, maximum acceleration and deceleration as well as loading restrictions like availability of liquid oxygen tankers, loading ramps, etc. Also, because of various RUBs and FOBs, route mapping takes care of the maximum clearances available along the route as well.