The second Oxygen Express train with two tankers of medical oxygen from Odisha arrived in Chennai early on May 15, Saturday as the demand for the life-saving gas increased following a spike in COVID infections in the southern state. The train reached Tiruvallur railway station around 6 am, Southern Railway said in a tweet and shared a video of the train arriving at the station. "#OxygenExpress loaded at Rourkela (Odisha) with 2 tankers carrying 31.4 MT of oxygen arrived in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu at 06.00hrs today," it said.
With this, 111.4 metric tonnes of oxygen has been delivered to Tamil Nadu so far. The first consignment, loaded with 80 MT of oxygen, was loaded from Durgapur in West Bengal and arrived at Tondiarpet Inland Container Depot on Friday morning.
The cryogenic tankers mounted on trucks were filled with liquid medical oxygen (LMO) and loaded onto the flat wagons and transported by rail through RO-RO (Roll-On and Roll-off) service.
The RO-RO service would facilitate door-to-door delivery of oxygen at the hospitals as required by the state governments without having to unload from the railway wagon and refill them again, thereby cutting down the transmit time "immensely," Southern Railway said.
Tamil Nadu received its 2nd loaded #OxygenExpress from Rourkela in Odisha with 31.4 MT at Tiruvallur today
— Southern Railway (@GMSRailway) May 15, 2021
Shri V.Murali Krishna,Loco Pilot & Shri N.Ramkumar, ALP who worked this train in its last lap said, “All signals were green, so we could reach destination in time" pic.twitter.com/LBcquxNEBa
Meanwhile, the Vedanta-owned Sterlite plant at Thoothukudi announced on Saturday that an expert team from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISO) arrived at its premises to support the resumption of oxygen production. “They have suggested some measures to help rectify the production snag. This has helped fast track the repair process for which we are thankful to the local administration, who was instrumental in facilitating this cooperative effort to recommence our oxygen production,” they added in the update note. On May 13, Thursday, the first tanker with 4.80 tonnes of medical-grade oxygen was dispatched from the plant.
(With inputs from PTI)