Oxygen Express piloted by all women crew reaches Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 22: An Oxygen Express train carrying 120 metric tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) from Jharkhand, has arrived in the city. The train was piloted by an ''All Female Crew'' from Jolarpettai in neighbouring Tamil Nadu to Bengaluru on Friday.

"The 7th Oxygen Express to Karnataka has arrived in Bengaluru from Tatanagar (Jamshedpur). This Oxygen Express train piloted by an all female crew will ensure continued supply of Oxygen for COVID-19 patients in the state," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted on Saturday.

According to the South Western Railway, loco pilot Sireesha Gajini and assistant Loco Pilot Aparna R P drove the train from Jolarpettai to Bengaluru. "All-women crew piloting an Oxygen Express is rare because we don''t have many women loco-pilots in Railways," Chief Public Relations Officer of South Western Railways Aneesh Hegde told PTI.

Meanwhile, the eighth consignment of the life saving gas weighing 109.2 metric tonnes reached the city from Jamnagar in Gujarat on Saturday.

The state government has sought 1,200 metric tonnes of oxygen daily in view of rising COVID cases in the state. Karnataka has reported 32,218 fresh infections and 353 related deaths on Friday taking the total caseload and fatalities to 23.67 lakh and 24,207 respectively.