Oxygen Express was a series of long-haul/short-haul train service jointly operated by

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

and

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

to overcome severe shortage of medical-grade

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as ...

by supplying to various hospitals in different parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

during the second-wave of

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

Background

Oxygen Express trains were operated in two formats; the first method is transporting by using cryogenic ISO tanks which can carry 16 metric-tonnes of liquid medical oxygen each. And, the second method is fixed tankers on semis such as

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, headquartered in Mumbai, India, which is part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses. Formerly known as Tata Eng ...

1618s; which are further loaded on to the trains at the roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities of Indian Railways and

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

. During the peak of pandemic,the tarins ran on signal-free, green corridor routes; transporting oxygen from various steel plants to various part of the country. In July 2021, 200 metric-tonnes of liquid medical oxygen transported to

Benapole Border Crossing The Benapole Border Crossing also known as the Petrapole Crossing ( bn, বেনাপোল বর্ডার ক্রসিং বা পেট্রাপোল ক্রসিং, hi, बेनापोल सीमा पार या � ...

, from

Tatanagar Junction railway station Tatanagar Junction railway station, station code TATA, is the main railway station serving the city of Jamshedpur in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is located on the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line of the Indian Railways. It has 6 platforms a ...

Gallery

File:WR's Oxygen Express Train.jpg,

Western Railways The Western Railway (abbreviated WR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways and is among the busiest railway networks in India, headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The major railway routes of Indian Railways which come under Western Rail ...

' Oxygen Express Train with LMO tanker truck, 23 May 2021 File:WR's Oxygen Express Train from Hapa.jpg,

' Oxygen Express Train with LMO tanker trucks from

Hapa Hapa is a Hawaiian word for someone of multiracial ancestry. In Hawaii, the word refers to any person of mixed ethnic heritage, regardless of the specific mixture.: "Thus, for locals in Hawai’i, both hapa or hapa haole are used to depict p ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, 23 May 2021 File:Oxygen-Express Ro-Ro Kalamboli 2.jpg, Oxygen Express carrying

Reliance Foundation Reliance Foundation is an Indian non-profit organisation which was founded in 2010 by Mukesh Ambani. It is wholly owned by Reliance Industries Limited and is one of the largest non-profit foundations in the country. History Reliance Foundati ...

's tankers at

Kalamboli Kalamboli is one of the nodes of Navi Mumbai. It is a transportation hub, being situated at the junction of the Sion-Panvel Highway, NH 48, Panvel By-Pass, NH 66 and Mumbai-Pune Expressway and is among the biggest iron and steel delivery center ...

Maharastra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdivi ...

, 26 April 2021 File:Loading of Liquid Medical Oxygen at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.jpg,

Linde plc Linde plc is a global multinational chemical company founded in Germany and, since 2018, domiciled in Ireland and headquartered in the United Kingdom. Linde is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. It serves ...

's Tata Motors 1618 road tanker is being loaded with Liquid Medical Oxygen at

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is the integrated steel plants of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited in Visakhapatnam. Founded in 1971, the plant focuses on producing value-added steel, producing 5.773 million tonnes of hot metal, 5.272 million tonnes o ...

, 22 April 2021 File:Oxygen Express Empty Tanker at Kalamboli.jpg, Empty LMO tankers of Inox Air Products departing from Kalamboli goods yard for the

, 19 April 2021 File:Oxygen_Express_Empty_Tankers_at_Kalamboli.jpg, Taiyo Nippon Sanso's Empty LMO Tankers at Kalamboli, Maharastra, 19 April 2021

References

Indian Railways trains COVID-19 pandemic in India {{India-express-train-stub