Visakhapatnam Steel Plant's RINL rescues COVID-hit Maha; first `Oxygen Express' chugs off
By Newsmeter Network Published on 24 April 2021 11:00 AM GMT
Visakhapatnam : Coming to the rescue of the oxygen-starved nation, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has supplied more than 9000 tonnes of LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen) to different states.
Besieged with the crisis, RINL Collective sprung into action and supplied LMO to far-flung places including Maharashtra with the active support of Indian Railways.
The assessment of the Road and Rail logistics inside the plant, finalization Rail Track and the site for the RORO facility was done on April 18 itself and a RAMP for facilitating Roll On -Roll Off (RORO) services were constructed within thirty hours. On April 22, seven empty cryogenic tankers having a total carrying capacity of more than 100 tonnes reached the plant site from Maharashtra.
The tankers anchored to the flat wagons with clamps and D-shackles were in deflated tyre condition and tanks in a pressurized condition of more than desired one Kg. Each (14 tyre mounted) tankers tyres were inflated with a mobile pressure Pump, De-clamped, and pressure inside the tanks were brought down to one Kg before rolling out on the road via the ramp.
Tankers were then taken to the filling station at ASP-1 and ASU-5. One tanker needed to be purged as earlier it was used for Nitrogen transportation. The filling from Oxygen was done following all safety protocols. Controller of Explosives (AP & Pondicherry) officials inspected the Oxygen filling station and site of loading and briefed the personnel and crew members on various safety aspects to his satisfaction.
PK Rath, CMD, RINL and C K Shrivastava, DRM, East Coast railway along with all Directors (RINL) and senior officials of East coast Railways & VSP visited the site to take stock and expedite the process of safe dispatch.
By evening 6 pm all the 7 tankers filled up with a total of 102 tonnes of LMO were brought to the ramp and Roll-On to the Flat wagon. Thereafter again the tyre pressures were decreased substantially to minimize the safe overall height of the tanker as supervised and to the satisfaction of railway personnel.
The tankers were again anchored to the flat wagon with strapping and D-Shackles for safe transport. Finally, the first Oxygen Express was flagged off from the Steel Plant site at 10 pm on April 22 for a journey of hope to alleviate the suffering of Covid patients in Maharashtra.
