Oxygen Express train to leave for Maharashtra on Friday
The ramp made by Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to receive Oxygen Express train at Ukkunagaram to send medical oxygen to Maharashtra
image for illustrative purpose
Visakhapatnam: Oxygen Express deployed by Indian Railways under roll-on roll-off (RORO) service is expected to leave for Maharashtra carrying seven tanker loads of medical oxygen from Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Friday morning.
A Railway official said the train has been introduced for the first time to transport medical oxygen to augment oxygen beds in ICUs to save the lives of several critically ill Covid-19 patients
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of VSP has an Air Separation Plant to extract oxygen gas to operate its blast furnaces. It also produces 100 tonnes of liquid oxygen per day for use as medical oxygen as a humanitarian gesture for supply to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other parts of the country as per directions given by the government authorities.
RINL as part of arrangements to receive the RORO service, had prepared a ramp for facilitating loading. The train reached the steel plant premises in the early hours of Thursday, a RINL spokesman said.
The seven empty cryogenic tankers with total carrying capacity of more than 100 tonne LMO (liquid medical oxygen) will take nearly 20 to 24 hrs to complete the process of filling, weighment and safety check as per protocol before it leaves for Maharashtra to meet the medical exigencies of Covid patients, the spokesman said.
