Flights,trains in disarray,cold continues to bite

None of the scheduled flights of Air India,Kingfisher,GO Air and Jet Airways took off or landed in the city on Monday.

Kingfisher has announced cancellation of their Tuesday flights as well. Air India officials said they would take a decision on Tuesday itself.

Schedule of trains was also in disarray,with almost all trains running behind schedule.

Long distance trains were the worst affected — the Uchahar Express,scheduled to arrive at 9.55 am,reached 14 hours late around midnight. The same train departed the city one-and-a-half hour after its scheduled time of 4.25 pm.

The Howrah-Kalka Mail arrived three hours late at 6.15 am. The Sadbhawna Express (Chandigarh-Lucknow),scheduled to arrive at 10.15 am,reached 6 hours late. The train departed from Chandigarh at 1.45 am,against its scheduled time of 8.50 pm.

Though,the Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi Express left at their scheduled time,they continued to arrive late.

Delhi bound passengers,meanwhile,prefer Volvo buses over the popular Shatabdi Express. “The trains are running one to two hours late,which actually neutralises the advantage of Shatabdi. These days,it’s better to catch the bus,” Ramandeep Singh,a regular traveller,said.

Still chilly
For the second day,cold wave conditions persisted in the city,prompting the UT Administration to direct private schools to extend winter break for primary classes for a week.

The maximum temperature continued to hover around 14 degrees Celsius,seven degrees below normal.

At 8.6 degrees Celsius,the minimum temperature was a few notches above normal.

The Met department has predicted a cloudy sky on Tuesday,with a slight rise in the day temperature.