Secunderabad,  In positive news for Telangana, nearly 63 tonne of oxygen is making its way to the state from Odisha on board the Oxygen Express. The South Central Railway (SCR) on Saturday said the Oxygen Express train loaded with five tankers has commenced its journey from Angul in Odisha to Secunderabad.

SCR officials said the first Oxygen Express from Telangana was dispatched with five empty tankers from the Secunderabad Cantonment Military Siding on Wednesday.

After getting filled with liquid oxygen, these tankers have commenced their return trip to Secunderabad on board the Oxygen Express. The five tankers are together carrying 63.6 tonne of oxygen.

Amid spiralling Covid-19 cases and oxygen shortage, the arrival of the oxygen consignment from Odisha would literally breathe life into several Covid-19 patients who are battling death.

Officials said the liquid oxygen being transported in these tanks is a cryogenic cargo which has many limitations like the maximum speed at which it can be carried, maximum acceleration and deceleration as well as loading restrictions such as availability of liquid oxygen tankers and loading ramps.

The Oxygen Express trains have been started by the Indian Railways to provide safe, secure and fast transportation of oxygen to different parts of the country during these critical times. Under this initiative, the road tankers (both empty as well as loaded) are transported by the Railways through 'Ro-Ro' (Roll on-Roll Off) service. The Oxygen Express trains are operated at the request of the state governments. While the states provide the tankers, the Railways undertake to bring the oxygen supplies to the requisitioning state in the shortest possible time.

Accordingly, SCR has been operating these trains to meet the needs of the states. The zone has operated two empty Oxygen Express trains from Secunderabad while the first train had five empty tankers, the second train was sent with four empty tankers on Friday.

Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR, assured that the Railways would continue to give utmost priority to the running of the Oxygen Express trains.

"Any request received on this front will be immediately processed so as to operate the trains at the earliest," he said.