Fog disrupts trains and flights in Delhi
new delhi — A thick blanket of fog engulfed the national capital and its suburbs on the New Year Day with visibility dropping to zero, hitting domestic and international operations at the Delhi airport and delaying trains departing from and arriving to Delhi.
With mercury at 5.7 degrees Celsius, dropping a notch below the season’s average on Sunday night, hundreds of passengers braved the morning chill as they remained stranded for hours at the airport and Delhi railway stations.
All the terminals at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport were packed with passengers, who drove on fog-covered roads to catch their morning flights.
Over 300 flights were delayed and eight cancelled as dense fog severely hampered visibility at the IGI airport on Monday morning.
About 265 domestic flights and 67 international flights were delayed. Eight flights were cancelled, all of which were domestic flights.
No take-offs could take place between 7.30am to 9.30am, according to an airport official. This was because runway visual range (RVR) was between 100-125 metres, while aircraft require more than 125 metres RVR for take off.
The visibility which was 1,500 metres at 3.30am dropped rapidly to zero at 5.30am.
However, the visibility improved as the late morning sun broke through the blinding cloud cover, allowing some flights to take off around 11am. Arrivals at the airport were also bady hit as only some aircraft were allowed to land. Flights can land in visibility below 50 metres if pilots are trained in CAT IIIB — which is Category Three.
The Northern Railways said over 50 trains coming to Delhi were
It was interesting start to the new year. In the plane from 6am, waiting to takeoff. no complains though.” Pinky Chandran A traveller
running late and 20 were rescheduled. Some 15 were cancelled.
The maximum temperature was likely to hover around 23 degrees Celsius.
The Met Department said the fog would continue throughout the region all through the week, with dense fog likely in the morning over the next two days. Pollution levels in the capital also shot up. The Air Quality Index (AQI) at various places in Delhi fell to the “hazardous” category.
“It was very irritating and suffocating as we were stranded in the plane for around one-and-half hours even after it had landed at the Terminal-3 airport,” said Smriti Mantri, a fashion design student who arrived at the airport around 9.30 a.m. from Kolkata along with her family.
Many took to Twitter to share pictures of their areas covered by the blinding fog as the hashtag #delhifog was among the most trending topics on the microblogging site.
“I wanted to say Hello 2018 by clicking the sunrise, but with this fog I can’t even see my reflection to say hello to myself,” tweeted @ virenrawat48, posting a picture of all haze.
@pinkychandran tweeted that it was “interesting start to the New Year. In the plane from 6am, waiting to takeoff. No complains though.”