Fog hits train services in region

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, December 19

A thick blanket of fog that has enveloped the region for the past three days has hit the rail services with most of the long route trains running late by several hours.

Rail passengers, including women and children, who have to wait at railway stations in the adverse weather conditions, are at the receiving end. Poor upkeep of the waiting area and lack of basic facilities has added to their misery.

According to railway officials, most of the long route trains were delayed by up to eight hours. The elite Shatabdi Express trains running on the Amritsar-New Delhi-Amritsar and Ludhiana-New Delhi-Ludhiana sections, however, remained unaffected by the bad weather.

Trains, which were running late by more than five hours, were 15653 Guwahati-Jammu Amarnath Express (8.08 hours), 12332 Jammu-Kolkata Himgiri Express (6.10 hours), 15210 Amritsar-Saharsa Jansewa (5.45 hours) and 11057 Mumbai LTT-Amritsar Express (5.05 hours).

Among other long route trains running behind schedule were 18101 Tatanagar-Jammu Muri Express (4.27 hours), 15707 Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express (4.30 hours), 12919 Indore-Jammu Malwa Express (4.13 hours), 18216 Jammu-Durg Weekly Express (4.52 hours), 12237 Varanasi-Jammu Begumpura Express (3.35 hours), 13049 Howrah-Amritsar Express (3.17 hours), 12716 Amritsar-Hazoor Sahib Sachkhand (2.50 hours) and 12715 Hazoor Sahib-Amritsar Sachkhand (3.02 hours).

The railway officials said the passengers will have to bear with the operational problems caused due to the foggy weather which was expected to continue for some time.

Trains delayed by up to 8 hours

Most long route trains were delayed by up to eight hours. Shatabdi Express trains running on the Amritsar-New Delhi-Amritsar and Ludhiana-New Delhi-Ludhiana sections, however, remained unaffected.