Title - Fog-hit trains run late by a day

The dense fog conditions have severely hit train operations. Due to poor visibility, certain long distance trains are running late by a day or more. The North East Express is running late by over a day. The train had left Guwahati at 9.45 am on Wednesday and was expected to reach Anand Vihar at 7.15 pm on Thursday.But the train is running late by 23 hours. As a result, the travel time of 34 hours has shot up to 57 hours. The train was expected to arrive on Friday night. With visibility less than 50 metres on some routes, many other trains too have exceeded their schedule by up to 26 hours.The Bhagalpur Garib Rath has exceeded its scheduled arrival time by at least 26 hours. The train left Bhagalpur in Bihar on Thursday. The journey time to Anand Vihar in New Delhi is usually 19 hours (less than a day). This has shot up to 45 hours (almost two days). The train is now expected to reach Anand Vihar by Saturday morning.Officials said both the trains had not reached Anand Vihar till Friday evening. “The train operation has been affected by low visibility caused by dense fog. We are working towards optimum capacity to ensure safety of passengers,” a Northern Railway spokesperson said.The Rewa-Anand Vihar Express is running late by 21 hours. The delay due to fog has increased the journey of 14.5 hours to over 35 hours. The train is likely to reach Anand Vihar early Saturday.The delay in train operation has cast shadows over sanitation and cleanliness in the trains. “When a train gets delayed, then the cleanliness of the train and the washroom takes a beating. There was some delay in the supply of food too,” said Kalyani Pandey, passenger in a train from Bhopal to Delhi.However, officials said food supply is replenished and the trains cleaned at major stations. “Toilets are cleaned at major railway stations depending on the time of halt. It is being ensured that there is sufficient food stocked on the train,” the official said.Apart from these trains, nearly 50 others were reportedly running behind schedule on Friday. Northern Railway had to cancel 17 trains and partially cancel 23 trains.

Six-year low: 2.7°C recorded on Friday
New Delhi: Despite a bit of sunshine, the mercury on Friday dropped to the lowest in six years, with a minimum temperature of 2.7 degree Celsius, four notches below normal.In January 2007, the mercury hit 2.6 degree Celsius, but since then the low has stayed around 4 degree Celsius. The all-time low was recorded in January 1901, at -0.6 degree Celsius and the second lowest in 2006 at 0.2 degrees Celsius.And as the mercury dropped on Friday morning, dense fog continued to disrupt flights at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Around 4 am on Friday, the visibility was lower than 50 m and three international flights were diverted to other airports. The fog did not clear until 9.30 am, airport officials said.