Delhi: Dense fog disrupts airport, railways operations. Check trains list and IMD warning

Severe cold and dense fog persisted on Friday morning in north India, disrupting travel to and from the Delhi and inconveniencing passengers. Nearly two dozen passenger trains bound for Delhi faced delays of up to 6 hours, and multiple flights were also affected due to fog and poor visibility. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), visibility plummeted to as low as 50 meters in some places in north India, including Delhi.

At 5:30 am on Friday, very dense fog blanketed many parts of Punjab, isolated regions of West Rajasthan, and dense fog covered extensive areas in Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, along with isolated pockets in East Rajasthan and Tripura. Moderate fog was reported in isolated areas of Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

Visibility at Delhi's Palam airport improved from 'zero' at 4:30 am to 50 meters at 5 am, further progressing to 150 meters at 6:30 am, as per the IMD. The adverse weather conditions affected 22 Delhi-bound trains.

List of Trains Delayed

According to Northern Railways, five trains namely, Khajaurao-Kurukshetra Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express, Hyderabad-
New Delhi Express, Rani Kamlapati-New Delhi Bhopal Express and Kamakhya-Delhi Junction are delayed by around 6-6.30 hours.
At least seven trains are expected to arrive late by around 2-2.45 hours.

This included Amritsar-Nanded Express, Rewa-Anand Vihar Express, Muzaffarpur-AnandVihar Express, Vasco-Nizamuddin Express, Amritsar-Mumbai Express, Jammutawi-Ajmer Pooja Express and Manikpur-Nizamuddin Express. A delay of around 45 minutes is expected on the arrival of the Chennai-New Delhi Express. In addition to these, as many as nine trains are running behind schedule of around 1-1.45 hours, the railways said.

The long-distance trains namely Saharsa-New Delhi Vaishali Express, Bhagalpur-Anandvihar Express, Rajendranagar-New Delhi Express, Banaras-New Delhi Express, Ambedkarnagar-Katra, Chennai-New Delhi Express, Ferozpur-Mumbai Express, Bikaner-Delhi Sarai Rohilla Express and Islampur-New Delhi Magadh Express are among those delayed.

IMD Fog warning

The India Meteorological Department expects dense to very dense fog during late night and morning hours till 20th of January in parts of Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh. Similar fog conditions are anticipated in isolated areas from the 21st to the 23rd of January. Additionally, there is a likelihood of dense to very dense fog during late night and morning hours in certain parts of West Uttar Pradesh from the 18th to the 23rd of January. Isolated pockets in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh may experience dense fog on specific days of the week.

Delhi Airport advisory

Though landings and takeoffs are ongoing at Delhi Airport, flights lacking CAT III compliance may face disruptions, says an advisory from Delhi Airport. Passengers are urged to reach out to the respective airline for the latest flight details. (With Agency Inputs)