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There is good news for hospitals facing shortage of oxygen as the much-awaited Oxygen Express carrying liquid oxygen from Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand is expected to reach Lucknow by Saturday morning.
A senior government official said that the Oxygen Express departed from Bokaro with three tankers at 2 pm on Friday and the train was slated to reach Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar (Mughalsarai) by 12 midnight. “A green corridor has been provided to the special train and it is expected to reach Lucknow via Varanasi and Sultanpur around 7 am on Saturday. While one tanker will be unloaded in Varanasi, the rest two will come to Lucknow. Each tanker can contain upto 20,000 litres of liquid oxygen which will be transformed into gaseous oxygen, bottled and then distributed as per need,” he said.
Meanwhile, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed through a tweet that the Oxygen Express had left for Lucknow. “A green corridor has been provided to the special train so that it can reach its destination at the earliest. Indian Railways is committed to ensuring proper supply of oxygen and for that the Railway is working continuously,” Goyal tweeted.
The Oxygen Express, which left from Lucknow at 8 am Thursday, reached Bokaro after 18 hours at 2 am on Friday. The Adra Railway Divisional Administration was waiting for the train. The tankers were unloaded at night and these were taken to Steel Authority of India (SAIL) plant in Bokaro for filling them with liquid oxygen.
The official said that the first tanker was loaded around 9 am this morning, second one at 10 am and the third an hour later. They were ten taken to Bokaro railway station. “All three tankers were fitted with all standards of safety and security. More than a dozen trains were stopped to give safe passage to the Oxygen Express. Its loco pilots were changed in the crew lobby, which is located every 300 kilometres,” the official said.
The Oxygen Express will chuig its way through Gaya, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar (Mughalsarai), Varanasi and Sultanpur, Utretia and reach Charbagh siding of Lucknow via Transport Nagar Alamnagar bypass.