Fog disrupts air, rail traffic in Delhi

Heavy fog engulfed Delhi NCR and other northern parts of the country, resulting in delays and cancellation of air and train services. A scene in East Delhi on Tuesday.

 

Hundreds of air and train passengers had a harrowing time on Tuesday morning as the national capital was engulfed in dense fog.

At least 50 flights were delayed by hours and two arrivals had to be diverted to nearby airports as Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport witnessed zero visibility conditions.

Visibility at the airport plummeted to below 50 metres from 2.30 am on Tuesday and started improving only after 10 a.m. According to the MeT department, Tuesday saw this season's third worst dense fog spell after December 2 and 14.

At Delhi airport on Tuesday morning CAT (Category) III A and B Instrument Landing System (ILS) was used to guide pilots to land in near zero visibility. When the Runway Visual Range (RVR) — the height at which the runway is visible to a pilot from air — dips below 200 metres, CAT III A ILS is used and CAT III B ILS comes into operation when RVR dips below 50 metres.

Passengers had a tough time as they spent hours waiting inside aircraft for the fog cover to lift. The Delhi airport's Terminal 1D was bursting at the seams on Tuesday morning with many passengers forced to sit on the floors due to lack of enough seating space.

Train schedules, already reeling under a huge backlog of delays from December, were further hampered, with 55 Delhi-bound trains running late by hours and 22 trains rescheduled.