Fog Shrouds Delhi-NCR; 81 Trains Delayed, Flight Services Hit

New Delhi: Dense fog engulfed Delhi, the national capital region and much of north India affecting air and rail traffic services on Saturday.

While 81 Delhi-bound trains, including Rajdhani, were delayed by several hours, 13 trains have been cancelled and 40 trains were rescheduled due to fog, said a senior railway official.

Several important and prestigious trains like Rajdhani, Duronto, Sampark Kranti, Purusottam, Utkal, Nandankanan, Hirakud Express have been badly affected and their scheduled have gone haywires, an ECoR release said on Friday.

Meanwhile, several flights have also been affected due to poor runway visibility conditions at the airport in New Delhi. Nine international fights and four domestic flights from Delhi were delayed due to fog. One Delhi-Lucknow flight was cancelled.

More than 140 flights were delayed and seven cancelled on Friday as poor runway visibility in the morning disrupted operations at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport here, officials said.

More than 200 arrivals and departures of flights were affected on account of weather as well as “other reasons”.

This is the second consecutive day when more than 100 flights have been impacted by bad weather even as authorities implemented low visibility procedures.

Airlines have requested all passengers to cross check their flight status before leaving for the airport.

According to the MET department, temperatures are likely to decrease further in the coming days and fog will intensify as well. Pollution levels are also expected to spike.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 24.6° Celsius, normal for this time of the year while the minimum settled at 11.5° celsius, three notches above the season’s average, said a India meteorological department (Met) official. The humidity level oscillated between 98% and 57%.

On Friday, the maximum temperature was recorded at 25.8° celsius while the minimum settled at 11.9°celsius.

(With PTI Inputs)