Hyderabad,  The first Oxygen Express for Telangana, with five tankers loaded with 124.26 tonnes of liquid oxygen, arrived at Secunderabad Railway Station here on Sunday from Angul in Odisha.

The five empty tankers were sent from Secunderabad on April 28 and after getting filled with liquid oxygen, commenced their journey back to Secunderabad on Saturday.

According to the South Central Railway (SCR), the liquid oxygen being transported in these tanks is a cryogenic cargo which has many limitations like maximum speed at which it can be carried, maximum acceleration and deceleration and loading restrictions like availability of liquid oxygen tankers, loading ramps etc. The route mapping of the train along with green corridor is done taking in to consideration of all these factors including ensuring adequate clearance along the route in terms of curves, RoBs and FOBs, etc.

The Oxygen Express trains have been started by the Indian Railways to provide safe, secure, hassle-free and fast transportation of oxygen to the 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 fastest feasible mode.

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, with five empty tankers each. The second one had left on Saturday.

SCR General Manager Gajanan Mallya has assured that the Railways will continue to provide 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 advised all officers and staff to maintain continuous monitoring of the movement of this train along the green corridor.