Fog disrupts rail, flight, bus operations again

As dense fog continues to cover Delhi and its neighbouring parts, flight operations were yet again disrupted at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) due to poor visibility. With the cancellation of as many as 20 trains and delay of at least 70 trains, rail traffic too was reported to be disrupted throughout the morning, day and night hours on Wednesday. According to a MeT department official, there was zero visibility at Palam at 5.30 am which subsequently improved to 100 metre by 8.30 am.

While three international and six domestic flights were delayed, three domestic flights were cancelled owing to the weather. A similar situation ensued in the adjoining parts of northern India too.

Thousands of passengers were stranded on Wednesday as 70 trains were delayed and 20 cancelled due to dense fog in parts of North India. According to a Northern Railway official, the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was running 25 hours behind schedule and the Islampur-New Delhi Magadh Express was running 18 hours behind schedule. While the Nandankanan Super Fast was 26 hours late, the Guwahati-Anand Vihar North East Express was delayed by 10 hours.

The official said that 46 trains were rescheduled as the visibility dropped to 400 metre on Wednesday. In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, as many as 17 trains were running late on Wednesday. A blanket of fog had led to the cancellation of six trains.

Apart from air and rail transport services, the foggy weather also disrupted bus services around the region. Due to low visibility on the highways, Uttar Pradesh was also experiencing connectivity issues. Bihar, Punjab, Haryana too witnessed dense fog in multiple cities of the states. Currently, the entire northern part of India is experiencing a cold wave which is most likely to intensify in the coming days.