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With the onset of fog disrupting rail services,the Railways have issued directions to reduce the speed of trains to as low as 45 kilometres per hour in case of foggy conditions in some sections.
The instructions aimed at ensuring safety of the passengers and preventing accidents are likely to have an impact on the time taken by the trains to reach their destinations.
The five sections under Northern Railways which will be impacted include Ambala Junction to Kalka (113 km),Bathinda to Sangrur (111 km),Morinda to Chandigarh (30 km),Jakhal to Raipur (113 km) and Ropar to Ambala (102 km). Trains take around two hours to cover most of these sections,which is bound to increase in case of foggy weather due to the 45 kmph speed limit.
Trains often travel at 100 kmph in some of these sections. With the speed being reduced to less than half,the time taken to cover the distance would be doubled.
Sample this – the Kalka Shatabdi,one of the most popular trains between Chandigarh and New Delhi,takes around three and a half hours to reach its destination at present. It would take an additional hour and an half in foggy weather. The same would be the case with the Jan Shatabdi. The other train on the Kalka-Ambala section is the Himalayan Queen.
Trains that depart or arrive early in the morning or late in the evening are likely to be affected more by the fog. Some long distance trains like the Unchahar Express and Lucknow-Chandigarh train are already running 10-20 hours late.
The Railways have further directed that fog signalmen would not be deployed and detonators would not be placed for the purpose of fog signalling. This has been done keeping in view the reduction in speed of trains.
Despite accidents due to fog and disruption of schedule,the Railways has not been successful with installation of anti-fog devices. In fact,Northern Railways has cancelled a number of trains from Thursday,while some trains have been partially cancelled. In the coming days,more trains are expected to be cancelled.
A Railways official said that the decision has been taken by authorities keeping in view the passengers safety. The reduced speed is likely to cause disruptions in the train schedule,but would be a safer option. The visibility during the foggy weather reduces,especially when the trains pass near water and vast expanses of open space.
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