Delhi shivers; dense fog delays flights, trains

A thick blanket of fog on Monday continued to envelope Delhi as air, rail, and road traffic remained adversely affected.

New Delhi: A thick blanket of fog on Monday enveloped Delhi as air, rail, and road traffic remained adversely affected.

The minimum temperature was recorded at 4.2 degrees Celsius, four notches below the season's average. It was the coldest Monday in the last five years, the Met Office said.

Dense fog enveloped the national capital this morning with visibility dropping to zero in the early hours. However, visibility improved to 150 metres by 9 am.

Traffic moved slowly due to foggy conditions but there were no major traffic jams, said a senior traffic police official.

Seventy trains and nearly two dozen flights were affected.

Dense fog badly hit train operations with 70 north-bound trains running behind schedule for several hours, causing inconvenience to passengers.

While the Rajdhani trains coming from Bhubaneswar, Sealdah and Ranchi were running late by about three to four hours, service of other Delhi-bound trains are also being severely affected due to adverse weather, said a senior Northern Railway official.

Magadh Express is running 18 hours late while Poorvottar Sampark Kranti Express is behind schedule by 18 hours. Northeast Express and Mahananda Express are running 12 hours late.

"We have made arrangements for informing passengers about the train position on regular basis besides setting up helplines for public," said the official, adding "departures of affected trains have been rescheduled."

Train drivers have been instructed to drive at a slow speed during the foggy condition.

The fog also hit flight schedules - 16 departures were delayed by more than 15 minutes. Besides seven arrivals were also delayed.

But no flights were diverted or cancelled, an official at the capital's Indira Gandhi International Airport said.

The Met Office has forecast a cloudy day ahead with dense fog in the evening.

"Monday ahead will be cloudy and fog is likely to remain throughout the day," said an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The maximum temperature is likely to hover around 16 degrees Celsius.

Humidity at 8.30 am was 97 percent.

Sunday's maximum temperature was recorded at 15 degrees Celsius, seven notches below the season's average while the minimum temperature slumped to 6.4 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average.

(With Agency inputs)