19 trains delayed due to low visibility in Northern Railway region

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New Delhi: At least 19 trains have been delayed by several hours due to dense fog in different parts of northern India, railway officials said on Saturday. The delay was caused due to foggy weather in many parts of the country even though several weather forecast agencies have claimed that temperatures have increased by 3-4 celsius in many northern states. 

A senior Northern Railway official said that the Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express was delayed by seven hours, followed by Nanded-Amritsar Sachkhand Express running behind schedule by six hours. Meanwhile, the Jabalpur-Hazrat Nizamuddin Express, Hyderabad-New Delhi Telangana Express and Lok Manya Tilak-Haridwar Express were all delayed by five hours. Running late by three hours and 30 minutes was the Katra-Manglore Navyug Express, followed by the Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express which was delayed by three hours.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), dense fog was recorded in parts of India. "Dense Fog recorded in isolated pockets over East Rajasthan, West MP and Bihar; Moderate to Dense Fog in isolated pockets over West UP and Punjab. Visibility recorded at 0530 hours IST of today (200 m or less): Kota, Gwalior, Jhansi and Gaya-50 each; Agra and Amritsar-200 each," IMD in a tweet said.

The IMD said mercury rose by a few degrees in Uttar Pradesh, and some parts in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh. According to the IMD, there will be no cold wave in the country till January 4.

Meanwhile, the air quality of the national capital improved from the 'very poor' category to the 'poor' category. 

An AQI between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 is satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301 400 very poor and 401-500 is marked as severe/hazardous.

The weather forecast agency has also predicted that Delhi is likely to receive moderate fog in the next week.