Railways delivered over 24,840 tonnes of oxygen so far, southern states got more than 10,000 tonnes

Oxygen Express trains started operating from April 24 with Maharashtra receiving 126 tonnes of the life-saving gas. 

Amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, these trains sent oxygen relief to 39 cities in 15 states -- Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam. 

While 359 Oxygen Express trains have completed their journey so far, six loaded trains with more than 587 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen in 30 tankers are on the run. 

"Oxygen Expresses crossed 10,000 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen delivery to the southern states of the country. Among the southern states, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka each received more than 2,500 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen from Oxygen Expresses," the railways said. 

The fifth Oxygen Express carrying 80 tonnes of oxygen in four tankers from Jharkhand to Assam is on the run, it said. 

Till now, 614 tonnes of oxygen has been offloaded in Maharashtra, nearly 3,797 tonnes in Uttar Pradesh, 656 tonnes in Madhya Pradesh, 5,826 tonnes in Delhi, 2,135 tonnes in Haryana, 98 tonnes in Rajasthan, 2,870 tonnes in Karnataka, 320 tonnes in Uttarakhand, 2,711 tonnes in Tamil Nadu, 2,528 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, 225 tonnes in Punjab, 513 tonnes in Kerala, 2,184 tonnes in Telangana, 38 tonnes in Jharkhand and 320 tonnes in Assam. 

Crisscrossing the country, Indian Railways is picking up oxygen from places like Hapa, Baroda, Mundra in the west and Rourkela, Durgapur, Tatanagar, Angul in the east and then delivering it to Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Assam in complex operational route planning scenarios.