200 trains running late, situation expected to worsen

The fog has finally arrived and the first day of the dense fog, which subsided in the afternoon, hit the Northern Railways hard. Rajat Arora reports. Big chill | More fog Ahead | Flights delayed or cancelled | Real-time flight info goes for a toss | Navigating fog made easy | Helpline numbers

The fog has finally arrived and the first day of the dense fog, which subsided in the afternoon, hit the Northern Railways hard.



All Delhi-bound trains, which were already running late due to foggy conditions in other parts of the country, got further hit and were running hours behind schedule.



On Monday, around 200 trains were affected due to dense fog. The situation is expected to worsen for rest of the 2011 and first 15 days of January 2012. So be prepared to park yourself at open platforms in bone-freezing winters if you are planning to go out for winter vacations.

Foreseeing dense fog early this month, the railways had already cancelled 30 Delhi-bound trains and around 40 were rescheduled to decongest tracks and reduce the danger of train accidents.

The high-speed premium trains like Shatabdi, Janshatabdi and Rajdhani Express are also running behind schedule.

“There’s dense fog in the outskirts of the Capital and on routes like Punjab, Allahabad and Western Uttar Pradesh. We have asked the drivers to drive at the speed convenient to them. In any case they won’t go beyond 60 km/hour. Safety of passengers is much more important than running on time,” said SK Sharma, chief PRO, Northern Railways.

The average delay time in the arrival and departure timings of trains is seven to eight hours and the railways are expecting it to be around 12 hours this winter.

Like every year, Northern Railways claims that it has geared up the public information system and other amenities at Delhi railway stations.

“Our new fog helpline — 01123747110 — provides real-time info to passengers. This time we are better prepared to fight the fog,” added Sharma.