Patna/Muzaffarpur: Rail services across parts of north Bihar were severely disrupted this week as dense winter fog combined with the absence of the Kavach safety system forced trains to crawl, delaying even premium services such as the Vande Bharat Express.
In Muzaffarpur, visibility dropped so sharply that locomotive pilots struggled to see signals from even short distances. Drivers were compelled to slow trains significantly, relying on cautious, incremental movement near home signals to avoid accidents. One pilot said that signals were often invisible even from 50 metres during peak fog hours.
Kavach — India’s indigenous automatic train protection system — enables drivers to detect signals from up to two kilometres away and automatically applies brakes to prevent collisions. While the system has been successfully deployed on routes such as the Konkan Railway, it has yet to be installed across much of the East Central Railway zone.
The impact was felt across multiple services. The Jogbani–Danapur Vande Bharat arrived in Muzaffarpur more than two hours late, while the Bihar Sampark Kranti Express was delayed by over five hours. Several long-distance trains from Delhi, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Dibrugarh also arrived three to six hours behind schedule, with one service cancelled altogether on safety grounds.
Passengers, including women travelling with children, were forced to wait for hours at stations in near-freezing temperatures. Many complained of inadequate shelter and information as delays mounted through the day.
Railway officials said fog was the primary cause of disruption. Vijay Prakash, senior divisional operations manager of the Samastipur division, said train movements were being regulated to ensure safety, adding that visibility conditions were expected to remain challenging during the winter months.
The delays have renewed questions over the pace of Kavach deployment, particularly on high-traffic routes, as passengers brace for further disruption during the peak fog season.
