Fog cripples railway movement in north India

A vehicle plies through dense fog in Gwalior on Saturday. Pic/ANI

A blinding layer of fog over north India and the eastern parts of the country on Sunday affected the movement of over 480 trains even as an intense cold wave walloped the plains, including Delhi, where the minimum temperature plunged to a numbing 1.9 degrees Celsius.

Delhi's minimum temperature was lower than most of the places in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand for the fourth consecutive day, according to the meteoro-logical department.

"Around 335 trains have been delayed, 88 cancelled, 31 diverted and 33 short terminated due to foggy weather," a railway official said.

The Delhi International Airport Limited tweeted that flights, which are not CAT III compliant, may get affected. Passengers have been advised to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information.

Also read: Cold wave, dense fog to abate from Jan 10 in Delhi: IMD

Around 25 flights were delayed Sunday morning, officials said. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), visibility levels dropped to zero meters at Bhatinda and Agra; 25 metres at Patiala, Chandigarh, Hissar, Alwar, Pilani, Ganganagar, Lucknow and Cooch Behar; 50 metres at Amritsar and Ludhiana, Ambala, Bhiwani, Palam (Delhi), Fursatganj, Varanasi, Meerut, Gaya and Dhubri.

A severe cold wave walloped Delhi on Sunday, with the minimum temperature at the Safdarjung observatory, the city's primary weather station, plunging to 1.9 degrees Celsius, the lowest in January in two years.

With frosty winds from the snow-clad mountains pounding northwest India, including Delhi, the weather stations at Lodhi Road, Ayanagar, Ridge and Jafarpur logged a minimum temperature of 2.8 degrees, 2.6 degrees, 2.2 degrees and 2.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

It was the fourth day on the trot that the national capital's minimum temperature was lower than most of the hill stations in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, including Chamba (8.2 degrees), Dalhousie (8.2 degrees), Dharamshala (6.2 degrees), Shimla (9.5 degrees), Hamirpur (3.9 degrees), Manali (4.4 degrees), Kangra (7.1 degrees), Solan (3.6 degrees), Dehradun (6 degrees), Mussoorie (9.6 degrees), Nainital (6.2 degrees), Mukteshwar (6.5 degrees) and Tehri (7.6 degrees), according to the IMD. The mercury dropped to 1.4 degrees Celsius in Haryana's Hisar, 2.8 degrees Celsius in Punjab's Adampur, minus 0.5 degree Celsius in Churu and 1.5 degrees Celsius in Pilani in Rajasthan; 3.2 degrees Celsius in Prayagraj and 3.8 degrees Celsius in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

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