Covid second wave: Railways starts oxygen trains with ro-ro facilities
Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has announced that the Indian Railways is set to operate "Oxygen Trains" to get bulk oxygen rapidly to patients.
Green corridors are being developed to ensure the fast movement of these trains. liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders will be transported on these trains.
Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) oxygen trucks have been loaded for the "Oxygen Express" system. Empty tankers will start their journey from Kalamboli and Boisar railway stations in and near Mumbai on Monday to load liquid medical oxygen from Vizag, Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Bokaro.
Citing the requirement of oxygen as the key to treating certain medical conditions in the Covid-infected patients, the government has decided to take this step. The Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra governments had approached the Ministry of Railways to explore whether liquid medical oxygen tankers could be moved by Railways.
Goyal also said that the number of isolation beds is being increased in the trains, and over three lakh isolation beds can be set up depending on the demand of the states.
The ministry has already prepared 50 isolation coaches with 800 beds at Shakur Basti Station, and 25 coaches will be available at Anand Vihar station in Delhi.
The measures come as the second wave of Covid makes its way into the country with the total number of cases reaching 1.47 crore and 2.61 lakh fresh cases, the biggest spike so far.
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