New Delhi: Parts of the national capital and its surrounding areas were covered in a thick blanket of fog as temperature dipped to 5.4 degrees Celsius on Friday morning. Due to the fog cover, the visibility levels in Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport area reduced to zero on Friday morning.
The adverse conditions, however, did not have any major impact on flight operations.
Delhi airport authorities however issued an advisory urging passengers to contact their concerned airline for flight information before leaving for the airport. "Low Visibility Procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are presently normal. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information," authorities said.
The CAT III or Category III -- an instrument landing system (ILS) that allows aircraft to land in low visibility conditions, operations for takeoffs and landings are necessitated when very dense fog causes poor or zero visibility. "While landing and takeoffs continue at Delhi Airport, flights that are not CAT III compliant may get affected. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted," they added.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also said that visibility dipped to zero at Palam airport at 7:30 am. Delhi's Safdarjung Airport (VIDD) also reported 200m visibility in dense fog conditions at 7:30 am, it added.
39 passenger trains to Delhi delayed
As many as 39 passenger trains to Delhi are running behind schedule as dense fog conditions continue to prevail in the national capital, resulting in low visibility, railway officials said on Friday. According to Northern Railway, of the 39 train, three trains are running late by six hours. This includes Ajmer-Katra Pooja Express, Katihar-Amritsar Express, and Khajarao-Kurukshetra Express trains.
Besides, six long distance trains including Bhubneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express, Amritsar-Nanded Express, Azamgarh-Delhi Junction Kaifiyat Express, Kamakhya-Delhi Junction Brahmputra Mail and Seoni-Ferozpur Express are also running behind their schedule and are expected to arrive late by four hours. Similarly, Jammutawi-Ajmer Pooja Express and Kamakhya-Delhi Junction Brahmputra Mail are also delayed by around five hours while 10 others, including Varanasi-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express, Banglore-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas, Prayagraj-New Delhi Express, Chennai-New Delhi Express and Manikpur-Nizamuddin Express are running late by up to two hours.
North India battles low visibility
In addition to these, at least trains are running around 1-1.30 hours late, including Rajendranagar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, Kanpur-New Delhi Shramshakti, Chennai-New Delhi Express, Hyderabad-New Delhi Express and Maa Belhi Devi Dham Pratapgarh-Delhi Junction. Apart from Delhi, the visibility was recorded below 500 m in several parts of Uttar Pradesh, West Madhya Pradesh including Gwalior and Malda, Gangetic West Bengal, Assam, parts of Punjab, and Rajasthan's Ganganagar, as per IMD data.
