Kolkata, Nov 30 : As foggy weather sets in, the Railways has cancelled four pairs of express trains for nearly three months (from December to February) to ensure passenger safety and operational efficiency.

"Due to reduced visibility during these months, train movement is reduced to a crawl. To prevent accidents, efforts are made to reduce the number of trains along the affected stretches. Decongestion of tracks also helps in more efficient operations in such weather conditions. We try to select trains that do not receive too much patronage at this time of the year," a senior official from Eastern Railway's operations department said.

Among the pairs of trains cancelled are the Howrah-Dehradun Express, Jhansi-Kolkata Pratham Swatantrata Sangram Express, Kamakhya-Gaya Weekly Express and the New Delhi-Malda Town Express. The Upasana Express will remain cancelled from both ends from December 3, 2024 to March 1, 2025. The Jhansi-Kolkata Express will remain cancelled between December 6 and January 12, 2025.

The Kamakhya-Gaya Weekly Express will remain cancelled between December 2 and February 25, 2025, while the New Delhi-Malda Town Express will not run from December 1 till March 1, 2025.

Apart from this, the ER has also announced truncated services for the Mathura-Howrah Chambal Express between December 2, 2024 and January 10, 2025. During this period, the train will not run between Mathura and Agra.

According to the official, the frequencies of several pairs of trains have also been reduced. These are the Howrah-Kathgodam Bagh Express, Kolkata-Amritsar Durgiana Express, Anand Vihar-Bhagalpur Garib Rath Express and the Ajmer-Sealdah Superfast Express.

"These steps will help to ensure that the more popular trains to and from north India, such as the Rajdhani Expresses, Duronto Expresses, Poorva Express and Netaji Express (formerly Kalka Mail) maintain as much punctuality as possible. If more trains are on a certain section, the possibility of bunching is higher. As it is, the railway link between Howrah and New Delhi is extremely congested," the official added.

/IANS