Boisar and Kalmaboli to be hubs for oxygen trains; locations identified after requests by Maharashtra govt

A tanker is loaded on a wagon at Boisar

In scenes that are reminiscent of the Bollywood movie The Burning Train, the railways built ramps overnight at Kalamboli and Boisar - not to save a train on fire, but to bring the precious Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) at a faster speed to Mumbai city. The locations were identified after requests by the Maharashtra government for quicker transport of road tankers via train to bring LMO from various suppliers in the country.

A tanker on a flat wagon at Boisar

After reaching Kalamboli and Boisar, the tankers would travel further inside the city via road. The choice was made based on available infrastructure and trial results.

Several workers and officials have been busy at Kalamboli and Boisar stations to build and test ramps that could load road tankers onto trains. In Boisar on Sunday, a loaded tanker was placed on a flat wagon and all required measurements were taken.

The tankers would be onboard flat wagons and the 32-wagon train would go to Vishakapatnam/Jamshedpur/Rourkela/Bokaro to get LMO. The first train is expected to leave by Monday or Tuesday.

For the past two days, the railway and Maharashtra transport department officials have been working on identifying road tankers of a specific size that would fit onto the rail wagons, procuring them and sending them on the journey to get oxygen.

"The ramp at Kalamboli was made overnight and is almost ready today and trials with tankers were conducted. These will be sent to destination stations, filled with liquid oxygen and sent back to Mumbai. Depending on the size of the tanker, one wagon could also take two tankers. One 32-car train can load about 32 tankers at one go. Each tanker can carry about 15-16 tonnes of liquid oxygen," a senior railway official said.

A ramp built at Kalamboli station for the loading and unloading process

The state government had approached the Ministry of Railways to explore options of moving LMO tankers via trains. Following this, it was decided that tankers would be organised by the state transport commissioner.

Based on measurements, route clearances were taken, and it was found that it would be possible to undertake movements as an ‘over-dimensional' consignment (where the height of the train is higher than usual), with speed restrictions on some sections. On Sunday, a trial was organised at Boisar (Western Railway). Ramps at other locations would also be ready in a couple of days by the time the tankers reach those locations.

32
No. of flat wagons in each train