First 'Oxygen Express' leaves for Maharashtra from Vizag amid coronavirus crisis

The first 'Oxygen Express' train left for Maharashtra from RINL, Visakhapatnam on Thursday evening. The oxygen is being transported to help COVID patients at hospitals and centres in western India as coronavirus cases exponentially rise.

According to the Railways Ministry, seven empty tankers from Kalamboli Goods Shed in Maharashtra reached Vizag's Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. on Thursday morning, which were then filled with 15 tons of LMO each.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted a video about the Ro-Ro (roll-on-roll-off) as the train containing the tankers left from Vizag.

Indian Railways have been transporting essential goods amid the pandemic. The 'Oxygen Express' has been working to ferry oxygen to different parts of India as hospitals battle shortage of O2 and essential medicines.

With rising cases, the demand for oxygen has increased but with dwindling resources, the Army and other branches have been roped in to help battle the crisis.