After starting the Oxygen Express, the Indian Railways is planning to set up an oxygen manufacturing unit at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. In a meeting between the Madhya Pradesh government, the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), and the Indian Railways last week, the Railways has agreed to come up with a 1000-cylinder-per-day oxygen manufacturing unit in Bhopal that may help Madhya Pradesh in overcoming the shortage of oxygen in the Bhopal area. After that, the state plans to have eight more 1,000-cylinder plants in various parts. The current requirement of oxygen in Madhya Pradesh is 400 metric tonnes per day, while it produces only 65 MTPD.

“The Indian Railways will come up with a 1,000-cylinder-per day unit in Bhopal. PESO is ready to give the clearance within a day, once they apply for it. The Railways will take only seven days to come up with the plant after the clearances are in place,” said Waji Ud Din, deputy chief controller of explosives and the oxygen nodal officer for PESO in Madhya Pradesh. A plant that can supply 24 cylinders of gas per day costs around Rs 33 lakh. To meet the shortfall, Madhya Pradesh is depending on Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat.

“It is difficult to manage, but we are managing. We have stocks only for a day now. There is no need to import. We have enough oxygen in India to manage it,” he said. On April 25, the Indian Railways had said that it will deliver more than 140 MT liquid oxygen within 24 hours. So far, Oxygen Express has run between Mumbai and Vizag via Nagpur to Nashik and Lucknow to Bokaro and back. A total of 10 containers, having nearly 150 tonnes of liquid oxygen, have been carried so far.