Indian Railways cancels 24 trains, reschedules 23 due to fog

Every year in winter season lakhs of passengers face problem in commuting through railways. To counter fog and low visibility, a new GPS-based system has been installed in all the locomotives of Northeast Frontier Railway.

The winter season is at its peak and subsequently, it has affected rail, road and air traffic in North India. In Delhi as per reports by ANI, 49 trains have been arriving late, 23 are rescheduled and 24 are cancelled due to low visibility and operational issues. Earlier on Wednesday, Foggy conditions affected railway services in the northern region with 65 trains getting delayed, cancelled or rescheduled. According to the Northern Railways Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Nitin Chowdhary, at least 22 trains have been cancelled, 40 trains were running late and three have been rescheduled owing to poor visibility due to the fog.

A recent report By PTI shows a surprising data, which revealed that four out of ten trains in the country are being delayed not because of fog, vagaries of nature or accidents, but because of railways’ large-scale repair work. While during that period in 2017, 1,09,704 trains were delayed, in 2016, the number was less by 16,092 trains. While 5 percent of these trains were delayed due to accidents, including those in which cattle were run over, 20 percent was due to asset failure and 40 percent due to repair work. The rest has been attributed to inclement weather conditions. Officials say that given that safety is the top priority for railways in the coming year, passengers have to bear the brunt on account of repair and maintenance work.

News Source: www.financialexpress.com