52 trains delayed, 12 rescheduled due to fog

Moderate fog cover was witnessed in the national Capital on Saturday, leading to delay in 52 rail services and re-scheduling of 12 others. Flight operations at Indira Gandhi International Airport though were normal, airport officials said.

According to a MeT department official, visibility was recorded at 1500 metres at 5:30 am. Three hours later, it dropped to 400 metres.

The minimum temperature settled at 8.2 degrees Celsius, considered as normal for the ongoing season. Relative humidity was recorded at 92 percent at 8:30 am.

“52 trains were running behind their respective schedules by several hours. Also, 12 trains required to be rescheduled due to poor visibility caused by the fog layer,” a railway official said. The Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was stranded at Raniganj station in Burdwan district for over an hour on Saturday. The train, which reached the station at around 7:50 pm and remained stranded for one hour 23 minutes due to a broken pantograph, an Eastern Railway spokesperson said. 

The train finally left for its destination after the pantograph was repaired at around 9:13 pm. Meanwhile, night temperatures across Jammu and Kashmir continued their free fall on Saturday as Srinagar recorded minus 4.5 degrees Celsius, while winter capital Jammu witnessed the coldest night at 5.4 degrees.

For the second time this winter, summer capital Srinagar recorded minus 4.5 as the night’s lowest temperature, a weather department official said. The coldest town in the state was Leh in Ladakh at minus 13.6. Pahalgam in south Kashmir recorded minus 7.3, while Gulmarg shivered at minus 4.4.

The piercing cold waves sweeping hills and valleys of Himachal Pradesh further intensified on Saturday, as night temperatures dropped and several towns in mid-hills also reeled under the biting chill with mercury staying close to freezing point.

The shivering cold wave conditions continued in high-altitude tribal areas with minimum temperatures staying between minus 8 and minus 15 degrees Celsius, while Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius.

Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded a low of 0.2 degrees Celsius, Manali (1), Kalpa (1.2), Solan (1.4), Palampur (4.5) and Una in Shivalik foothills (4.8), two to three notches below the season’s average, the MeT department said.