Another step by Indian Railways towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat! On India’s 75th Independence Day, the West Central Railway zone has commissioned PSA (pressure swing adsorption) Oxygen Generating Plants in all three Divisions (Jabalpur, Bhopal, Kota) for medical purposes. According to the national transporter, these Oxygen Generating Plants will provide Medical Oxygen to patients. These Oxygen Plants have been equipped with Refrigerated Type Air Drying Unit, Air Compressor and Oxygen Storage Tank. The capacity of the Oxygen Generation Plant at Central Hospital Jabalpur is 600 litres per minute. While the capacity of Oxygen Generation Plants at both, Railway Hospital Bhopal and Railway Hospital Kota is 500 litres per minute.
Indian Railways, during the Covid crisis, brought relief to various parts of the country by delivering Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) through Oxygen Express train services. The life-saving gas was used to treat Covid-19 positive patients. In a bid to ensure that Oxygen relief reaches the destinations in the fastest possible time, the Railway Ministry had said that the national transporter created new standards as well as set up unprecedented benchmarks in operating Oxygen Express Freight Train services. LMO relief by Indian Railways’ Oxygen Express trains reached out to several states including Kerala, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, UP, Assam and Delhi.
Earlier, the Railway Ministry had said in most cases, the average speed of these Oxygen Express trains over long distances was above 55. In order to to make sure that LMO for medical emergencies reaches in the fastest possible time frame, these trains were operated on high priority Green Corridor, with the highest sense of urgency. Also, operational teams of various zonal railways worked round the clock in the most challenging circumstances. Besides, technical halts were reduced to 1 minute for crew changes over different rail sections, the ministry said.