New Delhi, Jan 6: Delhi woke up to a dense fog on Saturday morning, resulting in operations being stalled at both the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and the railway stations. Hundreds of passengers were stranded after dozens of flights and trains arriving late. Around 49 trains have been delayed and 13 rescheduled due to the low visibility in the National Capital Region (NCR) today. Moreover, 18 trains have been cancelled.
The minimum temperature plummeted to 6 degrees Celsius while the maximum recorded is 21 degrees Celsius. The MeT office said that there will be similar weather conditions over the next two to three days and the cold condition will intensify.
“Currently minimum temperature in Himachal is one – two degrees below the normal and temperature during day is normal. No significant western disturbance is expected in next one week. Temperature is likely to drop by one – two degrees in coming days,” said Manmohan Singh, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director, Shimla.
Earlier on Friday, 17 flights, 62 trains were delayed due to the low visibility. Around 20 trains were rescheduled and 18 cancelled due to prevailing fog conditions. Speaking to news agency ANI, Northern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Nitin Chowdhary had said that the Indian Railways has installed a fog-safety device in the trains to prevent their long delays in winters.
On Wednesday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had claimed lesser number of trains were running late as compared to flights due to fog. The Indian Railways has also decided to extend the services of few weekly special trains, in order to clear the holiday rush of passengers and the inconvenience caused due to dense fog across the North India.