The Hindu : New Delhi News : Fog hits rail, air services for the 4th day in a row

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 04, 2007
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New Delhi

Fog hits rail, air services for the 4th day in a row

Staff Reporter

Heated exchange of words between officials, passengers

NEW DELHI: Dense fog disrupted air and rail services for the fourth day in a row in the Capital on Wednesday. Settling in at Delhi airport late on Tuesday night, fog played havoc with air traffic as 22 flights were diverted, 11 rescheduled and nine cancelled. With low visibility procedures remaining in operation at the airport till 6-30 a.m. on Wednesday, there was plenty of waiting to do for passengers as flights ran behind schedule.

"Low visibility procedures were enforced at the airport at 11-40 p.m. and terminated at 6-30 a.m. Flight operations were also suspended for half an hour at 4 a.m.," said an airport official.

A total of 18 flights -- six domestic and 12 international -- operated during this period. Fog hit Air Deccan flights the most with three flights cancelled due to the fog. An Indian airline flight to Hyderabad and an Air Sahara flight to Lucknow were also cancelled due to poor visibility.

Inconvenience was also caused to some passengers of an Air Sahara flight from Bangalore as their luggage went missing. According to a passenger, there were heated exchanges between the airline officials and passengers. The luggage was finally handed over to them in the evening.

Endless waiting at the airport for flights to leave might have became part of the risk passengers take for granted during winters, but airlines don't seem to be making things easier, claim airport officials.

"Passengers come and complain every day that the airlines are not doing enough to inform them about delays. Fights with airline officials at the airport have become routine now. There are some low-frill carriers that are really notorious for always being late or cancelling at the last minute," said an airport official.

Fog also continued to disrupt rail services in the entire North India. More than two-dozen trains arriving in the Capital were running hours behind schedule, while at least eight trains had to be rescheduled.

The trains running behind schedule included Mahananda Express (delayed by 19 hours), Sadbhawna Express (15 hours), Jansadharan Express (10 hours), Saryu Yamuna Express (10 hours), Farakka Express (8 hours), Kashi Vishwanath Express (7 hours), Swatantrata Senani Express (5 hours) and Gomti Express (4 hours).

Trains departing from Delhi that were rescheduled on Wednesday included August Kranti Rajdhani Express, Kashi Vishwanath Express, Sadbhawna Express, Jharkhand Express, Jansadharan Express, Mahakaushal Express and Kaifiyat Express.

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