Air, rail traffic go haywire again

New Delhi, Jan 6 (PTI) After a brief respite, foggy
conditions returned to the capital Tuesday affecting air and
rail traffic with over 100 domestic and international flights
being delayed and 18 others cancelled while 40 trains were
running behind schedule.

Fourteen trains were rescheduled and one was
cancelled.

Flights were delayed by up to four hours at the Indira
Gandhi International (IGI) airport this morning as general
visibility dropped to below 50 m while runway visibility was
125 m, much below the 150 m mark required for planes to take
off.

Most of the morning flights to Coimbatore, Bangalore,
Mumbai, Shimla, Lucknow, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Chennai were
either delayed or cancelled and some clubbed with other
flights, sources at the airport said, adding 12 domestic and
international flights were also rescheduled.

"Due to low passenger load and to rationalise the
availability of aircraft at other centres for smooth movement,
we have clubbed some of our flights," an airlines official
said.

As many as 40 Delhi-bound trains were running several
hours behind schedule as fog continued to affect rail services
for the ninth consecutive day.

About 14 trains from New Delhi station were also
rescheduled because of late running of incoming trains,
Northern Railway sources said, adding these included Rajdhanis
and Garib Rath to Jaynagar (Bihar).

On Monday, air travellers were a happy lot as a
relatively clear sky after week-long foggy conditions allowed
flights of various airlines to depart and arrive as per
schedule.

Fog started to envelope the capital late Monday night
and visibility at the airport dropped to a low of 125 m
forcing authorities to implement low visibility procedures
(LVP).

The LVP was initiated at 10.09 pm when the runway
visual range for main runway (28/10) dropped to 1300 m while
of new runway (29/11) was 800 m.

It continued for about 13 hrs 21 min and terminated at
11.30 am during which about 183 (131 domestic and 52
international) flights, of which 46 under CAT-IIIB, 26 under
CAT-IIIA, one in CAT-II and 110 in CAT-I conditions, operated.

Two domestic and six international flights were also
diverted.

The situation began to improve after 11 am when the
visibility went up to 1,100 m for the main runway and 800 m
for the new runway.

The two runways are CAT-III B compliant but still
flights get delayed as some airlines either do not have the
CAT-III B compliant aircraft or CAT-III B trained pilots.

The DGCA has also asked airlines to roster their
CAT-III B trained pilots and aircraft at Delhi airport to
avoid any delay in arrival or departure during dense fog
conditions.

Over 600 flights have been delayed and around 100 were
cancelled during the past one week due to fog.

Among the trains running late are Puri-New Delhi
Purshottam Express, Rajendra Nagar (Patna)-New Delhi Rajdhani
Express, Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and Kashi Viswanath
Express.

The Delhi-Hatia Swarna Jayanti Express was cancelled
from today till the end of the month, taking the total number
of cancellations for the period to 14. PTI SMJ
RKM