With winter setting in, heavy fog conditions in Upper and Central India have started delaying trains. Over 250 passenger trains are getting delayed daily, throwing life out of gear for the common man.
Trains which are part of the Northern, North Central, North East, East Central, Eastern and South Eastern Railways, have been heavily affected due to the prevailing fog conditions, and are running 10-12 hours late daily. Even premium trains like the Rajdhanis and Shatabdis have also been affected, causing a delay of over 10 hours on an average.
The Indian Railways, which had time and again promised to put in place a system to overcome the delays caused due to fog conditions, has not been able to do so yet. Anti-fog and anti-collision devices in all major trains have still not been put in place. As per sources, till date, only four trains have been fitted with anti-fog devices in the last few years. A senior official of the Indian Railways also said that the Railways cannot do much about natural fog conditions. “Fog is a natural condition and we cannot help it. This year, fog has started descending soon. We were already in the process of training our drivers when fog started in Northern and Central India,” the official said. Asked why the Railways have not been able to do anything about tackling fog conditions like the western countries have, the official said, “Even flights are being delayed and cancelled on a regular basis, why not question them as well?”
The official added that the technologies adopted by the West are expensive and cannot be implemented in India when the Railways is already facing a resource crunch. With over 1,600 trains affected till now, trains, including the premium and superfast ones, are running at an average speed of just 40-60 kmph. Not only passenger trains, but freight trains too have been affected, causing a huge revenue loss to the Railways.
However, Indian Railways spokesperson Anil Saxena said that the railways are doing everything possible to run trains on time. “This year, we have not pre-cancelled any trains like last year and are going on a case-by-case basis. We have also left it to the zones to decide depending on the weather conditions. Passenger safety is our primary importance, and thus, we have to be very careful and run trains slowly as visibility drops.” The Ministry of Railways has also initiated a proposal to install Tri-NETRA (Terrain imaging for diesel drivers Infra-red, Enhanced optical and radar assisted system) systems on locomotives from next year for enhancing the vision of locomotive pilots. “The Tri-NETRA is designed to see the terrain ahead of the running train during harsh weather conditions. This system will help drivers manoeuvre the train even in foggy conditions as the driver would have a clear picture of the terrain on his monitor,” Saxena said, adding that the device has already been tried in Bangalore and will soon be tried in the Delhi-NCR route.