According to a report published in The Indian Express, more trains are being canceled due to dense fog. Northern India keeps getting lashed by the cold waves, making the livelihood and traveling difficult too. The Indian railways canceled about two hundred and sixty-seven trains on Monday due to dense fog, and around a hundred and seventy trains were got delayed too due to intense fog and poor levels of visibility. This similar situation is to persist even today as well. It has been two days in continuous succession that the trains have either been canceled or delayed due to the poor weather conditions.
The news report further states that the cold has been more severe this year than the records of the past few years across different parts of India. Alongside the trains many domestic and international flights too have been either delayed or canceled. Many schools across different states in India have either extended their holidays by a few days or have changed the timings.
The latest technology such as GPS devices for fog pass has been given to the loco pilots. This device can raise visual and audio signals each time a train crosses through land-based signals such as the level crossing gates. In accordance with the officials of the Indian railways, about thirteen thousand devices of fog pass have been given to various loco pilots who are operating.
About seventy-two out of a hundred and forty short-distance to mid-distance passenger trains too have been canceled due to the dense fog. According to data produced by the Board of Indian Railways, the entire train schedule has changed due to the intense weather. And this in turn is also leaving an impact on the local or the suburban trains too. About forty regular local trains have also been canceled because of this. The report further states that on Sunday, about three hundred and thirty-five trains have been delayed due to the ongoing issues with fog, and eighty-eight trains were canceled.
Across Agra and Bhatinda, the levels of visibility have got dropped at zero meters. And it has dropped to twenty-five meters at Chandigarh, Patiala, Bhiwani, Ambala, Safdarjung, Ganganagar, Ridge, Bhagalpur, Varanasi, and Fursatganj. Furthermore, the level of visibility has been at fifty meters for Patna, Lucknow, Hisar, Palam, Karnal, Bahraich, and Meerut.
Although the Indian Railways has been trying to keep a smooth flow of trains across northern India but, this issue with the fog has left no choice apart from either rescheduling or cancelations. For ages, one of the most common practices during such occasions was bursting crackers or detonators along the railway lines as a train would pass. This would alert the people and enable them to maintain a safe distance. Usually, the loco pilots do not turn up the speed of the trains during such low visibility days. These days the handheld GPS fog pass are been used to alert the public. From the past December till January this year, due to the massive fog, about four thousand one hundred and eighty-three trains have got affected and around four thousand two hundred and forty trains have got canceled too.