No let-up in foggy conditions, New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express delayed by 6 hours

Radhika Pasrija

Chandigarh, January 17

As dense fog continues in the region, several trains arriving at the railway station here were either running behind schedule or were rescheduled.

The New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express was delayed by 5 hours and 50 minutes, departing from New Delhi at 1.30 pm against its usual departure time of 7.40 am today. The train was delayed by nearly four hours on Saturday as well when it left New Delhi late by over 3 hours.

Although passengers are notified of the delay, many allege that the train departures are further delayed by almost an hour, inconveniencing people in this bone-chilling cold weather.

The Shatabdi trains are believed to be one of the most time-bound trains of Ambala division. Therefore, many professionals, students and businessmen commute from Chandigarh to Delhi and vice versa by this train. The train delays during the foggy season makes it difficult for them to plan ahead.

Meanwhile, the New Delhi-Amb Andaura Vandhe Bharat Express arrived here about an hour late against its scheduled arrival of 8.38 am. The Netaji Express departed from Howrah at 3.29 am on Wednesday morning, with a delay of six hours. It is expected to reach the local railway station at 6.44 am on Thursday morning. It is running late by 8.15 hours.

A railway official said, “The train pilots have been instructed to use fog safety device (FSD) at all times, be it dense or sparse fog. Along with dealing with delays, we need to focus on the safety of passengers as well.”

The Lucknow-Chandigarh Express was delayed by 3.30 hours today, even though it started its journey on scheduled time from Lucknow on Tuesday. It reached the here at 1.21 pm. The Pashmin Express (Amritsar-Mumbai Central) was running behind schedule by 1.30 hours.

The DLPC Janshtabdi was running late by more than 30 minutes.