Fresh disarray in Delhi as fog blanket hobbles mass transit services

IMD has predicted that similar weather will prevail on Monday, with dense to very dense fog likely to cover the Capital

Delhi reeled under a spell of dense to very dense fog on Sunday, following which visibility remained zero for nearly six hours between 3am and 9am – impacting both flight and rail operations in the Capital.

At the Tilak Bridge railway station in the city on Sunday morning. (Sanjeev Verma/HT photo)

Over 150 flights were delayed at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, four were diverted and at least six were cancelled, even as the sun came out in parts of the city post noon. At least 11 trains were also delayed by over one hour on Sunday morning.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that similar weather will prevail on Monday, with dense to very dense fog likely to cover the Capital.

“Visibility became dense at 2:30 am, dropping to 100 metres and at 3 am, it was zero. It remained zero till around 9 am, before lifting to 50 metres at 9:30 am and subsequently up to 200 metres by 10:30 am,” said Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist at IMD, adding that Delhi was seeing very dense surface-level fog now, with upper-level fog largely missing.

In total, dense fog lasted for 8.5 hours, out of which zero visibility was recorded for six hours. In comparison, surface-level fog was missing on Saturday, making it a relatively clear day in terms of visibility and had minimal impact on flights and trains.

An airport official who did not want to be named said that the four flights diverted due to fog on Sunday were flying to Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

“Three flights were diverted to Jaipur and one to Ahmedabad. All diversions took place between 12:30 am and 5 am,” said the official.

Though the airport does not officially share data on delays and cancellations, a look at the airport website showed over 150 flights had been delayed, with at least six cancelled. A flight is classified as delayed if it is late by more than 15 minutes.

On Saturday, airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said the airport’s fourth runway 28/10 is likely to become operational in the next eight to 10 days.

“The final work on the technical integration of the runway is underway and will be completed very soon. Post refurbishment, the runway was scheduled to be operational on January 19, but due to some unforeseen technical issues, system integration could not be completed. It is expected to be completed in 8 to 10 days. DIAL is working diligently with its partner Honeywell to complete the process soon,” it said.

At present, three out of the four runways are operational at the airport.

However, due to the Republic Day restrictions, no flights will land or take off at the airport between 10.20 am and 12.45 pm till January 26. Both these factors are likely to further compound woes at the airport, particularly when fog is dense or very dense.

While flights can still land at the airport when visibility is 50 metres, no flights are allowed to depart unless the runway visibility range (RVR) is 125 metres, leading to flight delays.

This can lead to subsequent delays as parking bays are occupied and flights waiting to land at the airport are still in the queue.