Lucknow: Oxygen Express chugs off from Charbagh, shortage to end

LUCKNOW: The scarcity of oxygen in city will be soon over and more supply will be on way as the Oxygen Express, a goods train, with six tankers (trucks) chugged off from the platform number one of Charbagh railway station on Wednesday night for its journey to Bokaro, Jharkhand.
Liquid medical oxygen (LMO) would be brought through the newly-launched Oxygen Express, a ‘roll-on roll-off ’ service with road tankers placed on wagons.
Railway officials said the train carrying the oxygen tankers would be given passage on priority during its journey.
A senior railway official said the train would reach Bokaro in 16-18 hours. Thereafter, a green corridor would be created for a smooth return journey of the train carrying liquid oxygen in the tankers to Lucknow.
Earlier, on Wednesday, additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Awasthi, visited Charbagh railway station to take stock of the arrangements for Oxygen Express and supervised the procedures before the journey.
In the evening, railway minister Piyush Goel tweeted that the ‘Oxygen Express’ is being dispatched from Lucknow to Bokaro to tackle oxygen shortage in the state.
Last week, Uttar Pradesh government had written to the railway board seeking transportation of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) from oxygen plants in Jamshedpur and Bokaro in Jharkhand and Rourkela (Odisha) through Oxygen Express.