Delhi fog delays Kolkata trains

Dense fog in north India threw train schedules to and from the city haywire, delaying several important trains, including Rajdhani Express, for several hours.
Trains were forced to either go slow or stop as thick fog enveloped parts of north India, said Railways officials. Some trains like New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express were delayed by up to a day.The Rajdhani that had started from New Delhi on Thursday and was to arrive on Friday morning reached Sealdah on Saturday morning, 24 hours behind schedule.
The Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express fared no better. Against the scheduled arrival of 9.50am on Friday, the train reached Howrah at 8.33am on Saturday, over 22 hours behind schedule.
"Most part of north India is blanketed by fog from early hours of the evening till as late 8-9am the next morning. As a result, trains are running at one-fourth the normal speed. The visibility is so low that drivers are unable to sight signals till the engine is only a few yards from the post," said a senior official of Eastern Railway.
Udayan Abha Toofan Express, Himgiri Express, Jodhpur Express, Poorva Express and Kalka Mail were also affected by fog.
Indian Railways has adopted a slew of measures - from cancelling and rescheduling trains to adding extra coaches and bringing down speed caps on blinding stretches - to beat the haze. Eastern Railway had to cancel the Delhi-bound Toofan Express that was scheduled to start from Howrah at 9.35am on Saturday as the train from Delhi hadn't yet reached the station, running 14 hours behind schedule. Delhi-bound Poorva Express, which was to start from Howrah at 8.05am, was rescheduled and left Howrah at 4.20pm on Saturday and the Sunday morning's Poorva Express stood cancelled.
"An express requires seven to eight hours for maintenance before the next journey. In case of Toofan Express, fog had delayed its departure from Delhi. It was further delayed en route and arrived more than half a day late in Howrah, posing difficulties for rescheduling its departure from the city," said RN Mahapatra, the Eastern Railway spokesperson. Mahapatra added that more such cancellations and rescheduling are expected in the next few weeks. "The fog would subside only by the middle of January. Till then, we will have difficulties to maintain the long distance trains time table," he said.
Railway officials said the stretch between Delhi and Kanpur was mainly responsible for delays on that route with trains taking up to 16 hours to cover the distance. The stretch normally takes four hours. "Rajdhani Express runs at an average speed of 130kmph but on that stretch it is unable to run at more than 30kmph," said an official.
Passengers travelling on the trains had a trying time staying couped in the compartment for two days. "My child complained he was falling sick. It was a horrible journey," said Jhimli Biswas, who was travelling from New Delhi to a relative's home at Kolkata.
Schoolteacher Shilpi Tiwari, who was supposed to attend a wedding in Chandannagore on Friday evening, waited for four hours at Mughalsarai on Thursday before cancelling her ticket. "There was no point in travelling. All the trains were running late by over 10 hours. I cancelled my ticket and got my refund," she said.