Dense fog brings over 480 trains to a standstill: Railways

Indian Railways on January 8 said that the foggy weather has affected the movement of over 480 trains and brought them to a standstill.

''As many as 335 trains have been delayed, 88 canceled, 31 diverted and 33 short terminated following the foggy weather,'' a railway official said.

In this winter season, a layer of dense fog has enveloped northwest India as well as central and eastern parts of the country, affecting road, rail, and air traffic movement.

Following the dense fog, the visibility comes down to just 50 metres at the Palam observatory near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport at 5:30 am.

As per the Delhi International Airport Limited tweet, the flights which are not CAT III compliant may get affected.

In the wake of emerging weather situations, passengers have been advised to approach the airline concerned for updated flight information.

It is worth mentioning that very dense fog is when the visibility is between 0 to 50 metres between 51 and 200 metres dense, between 201 and 500 meters moderate, and between 501 and 1,000 metres shallow.

Flight operations were also hampered due to low visibility caused by thick fog caused by cold wave conditions.

As of 5.30 a.m. on January 7, the temperature at Palam was 5 degrees Celsius, down from 7 degrees on January 6, while the mercury dropped to 2.2 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung, the capital's official weather station.

At Delhi Ridge and Lodhi Road, the minimum temperature was 1.5 degrees Celsius and 2 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Notably, Aya Nagar, one of the outskirts of South West Delhi, had a temperature of 1.8 degrees Celsius on January 6 morning.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the coldwave conditions are expected to last until Saturday, January 7, though similar conditions are possible until January 11.

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