Fog disrupts rail traffic in Delhi, 15 trains delayed

The Railways has started using Fog Pass Device which is GPS enabled and can help to measure the distance of the next hault.

File photo

New Delhi: Scores of passengers were stranded as nearly 15 trains were delayed due to thick fog across the national capital on Saturday. According to the official data, most of the trains were rescheduled after getting delayed for at least by two hours. The trains Purushottam Express, Mahabodhi Express, and Kaifiyat Express were delayed by three hours each. While Vikramshila Express, Jaynagar Anand Vihar Garib Rath Express, Kashi Vishwanath Express were running late by five hours, four hours and three hours respectively due to dense fog in Delhi.

Earlier, the Railways had stated that it has started using Fog Pass Device (Fog Pilot Assistance System) or FSD, which is GPS-enabled and can continuously calculate the distance of the train in relation to the next landmark, enabling drivers to know when exactly a signal is approaching. It has installed as many as 4,920 such devices in the most fog-affected railway zones - northern, north-central, north-eastern and north-western Today, the minimum and maximum temperature of Delhi will hover around three Degree Celsius and 19 Degree Celsius.

The humidity in the region will be oscillating between 60 per cent and 65 per cent with a wind speed of 10 km/hr. According to Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, the average temperature for the month of December so far has been 7.1 Degree Celsius against the normal of 8.3 Degree Celsius. In the coming days as well, the same trend will continue and as per the experts, the minimum temperature can even go below 5 Degree Celsius.

Besides national capital, cold wave conditions are also prevailing in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and chilly winds from north and northwest directions are blowing over these two states. With the onset of Chillai Kalan, Jammu and Kashmir`s Srinagar recorded minus 7.7 degrees on Friday which was the lowest minimum in a span of 28 years. The Dal Lake has already frozen and so are other small lakes and several other water bodies.

Chilly winds have also engulfed southern state such as Telangana where the temperature is expected to fall in the single digit in the first week of January. "As these winds were travelling from the Bay of Bengal, minimums increased over Telangana. However, reversal of winds occurred on December 27 and warm and humid winds from southeast directions got replaced by cold and dry winds from north direction. As a result, minimums dropped to a great extent leading to commencement of cold wave condition in some parts of the state," Skymet stated.