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Updated April 19th, 2021 at 23:27 IST

Railways urges people not to panic amid COVID-19 crisis, assures 'trains running normally'

Indian Railways requested people to not panic or believe in rumours floating around, clarifying that all trains are running normally.

Reported by: Sudeshna Singh
Indian Railways
PTI | Image:self
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The rising COVID-19 cases have ignited many rumours around the running of the trains, which the Railway Ministry on Monday cleared. Requesting people not to panic, the body asserted that the trains were running normally, and all those who have a confirmed ticket can come to the stations. It also requested them to follow all social-distancing norms while on the station premises. 

Railway to run 'Oxygen Express'

The Railways are also gearing up to run 'Oxygen Express' trains between states to help transport medical oxygen amid acute shortage reported by several states. Through this initiative, which came as a response to Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra government's appeal, the Railways will run special trains to supply oxygen to State and Union Territories facing acute shortage of oxygen supply. A green corridor was being prepared for the movement of these special trains. The Ministry took to the official Twitter handle to announce this news.  

It is pertinent to mention here that a Ro-Ro service with 7 empty tankers has departed from Kalamboli goods yard for Vishakhapattanam steel plant siding at 20:05 hours on Monday, April 19. This is the first Oxygen Express train leaving from the Mumbai region to Vizag with oxygen supplies. Ro-Ro service with 7 empty tankers will move via Vasai Road, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Raipur to Visakhapatnam steel plant where it will be loaded with Liquid Medical Oxygen. 

"Railways have geared up to run Oxygen Express in response to its fight against COVID-19. Team Mumbai Division has built a ramp overnight within 24 hours at  Kalamboli goods yard to facilitate loading/unloading of tankers in/from flat wagons. The Ro-Ro service with 7 empty tankers departed from Kalamboli goods yard for Visakhapatnam steel plant siding at 8.05 pm today," the Central Railways in its press release stated."

COVID-19 tally in India

Meanwhile, for the fifth day straight, India breached the 2 lakh mark with a record single-day rise of 2,73,810 fresh COVID-19 cases. Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka emerged as the major contributors of fresh cases, with 68,631, 25, 462 and 19,067 fresh cases respectively. With this, the cumulative count in the country has mounted to 1,50,61,919. The death toll has reached 1.78 lakh, with 1,619  deaths in the last 24 hours.

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Published April 19th, 2021 at 23:27 IST

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