With the emerging scarcity of supplemental oxygen in the State’s hospitals for Covid-19 patients, the first ‘Oxygen Express’ arrived in Hyderabad to battle the issue. The train, which was loaded with 124.26 metric tonnes (MT) of liquid oxygen, travelled all the way from Angul in Odisha to Sanath Nagar railway goods complex on Sunday afternoon that covered a distance of 13334 km.
Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central Railway (SCR), told Express, “As soon as we got the request from the State government for their requirement, we set up a green corridor from the starting point to the destination. There are multiple route options from Angul to Hyderabad, but we made sure to opt for the shortest one.
Apparently, these cryogenic cargos are usually huge and require special clearance to pass through stations and different foot overbridges. Hence, fast track clearance was initiated for quick delivery. The SCR official stated that all the stations en route were also informed, in prior, so that the train could pass via a green corridor exclusively.
The official added that roll-on, roll-off (RO-RO) services were accessed for the Oxygen Express, which equips coaches to train so that when the train reaches its destination, these cargos could be moved effortlessly by drivers, thus saving time.