A highlight of Indian Railways' response to the coronavirus pandemic has been the operation of Oxygen Express trains, delivering liquid medical oxygen to alleviate shortages at hospitals across the country. The dedicated trains were introduced from April 19, collecting LMO from sources such as Vadodara and Jamnagar in the west or Rourkela, Durgapur and Tatanagar in the east for destinations in the north and far south. Managers from the Indian Railway Traffic Service responsible for planning and operating the trains estimate that the average delivery time by rail has been around 30 h, compared with 72 h by road. According to the Ministry of Railways, IR had moved more than 35000 tonnes of LMO by the end of June, operating 477 Oxygen Express trains since the project began. The first train left Maharashtra on April 24 carrying 126 tonnes, but the six heaviest trains to date had each carried more than 522 tonnes of oxygen in 28 road tankers. By late June deliveries were averaging around 800 tonnes per day.
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