Shelters have been set up on the southern square of Shanghai Railway Station for people waiting for their trains back home.

 

A passenger takes a nap on his luggage while waiting in the shelter outside Shanghai Railway Station yesterday.

 

Air and road traffic conditions improved yesterday and railway tickets again became available, prompting a rush of travelers trying to leave Shanghai while they can.

 

Flights, trains and coach shuttle services largely returned to normal after weather conditions improved. However, forecasters have said the respite is only temporary.

 

Shanghai Railway Administration said short-distance trains and shuttles to the north had mostly returned to normal at the two local railway stations, and at some hub stations in neighboring Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.

 

Some services to the south and southwest still experienced delays.

 

"We are taking advantage of the short break from heavy snows to transport as many travelers as possible on busy lines,'' said an official, Tao Liping.

 

The railway authority resumed selling tickets for some routes yesterday but the sale of tickets for shuttles to Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan, as well as to Chengdu and Chongqing cities, was still suspended.

 

At Shanghai Railway Station yesterday, tired travelers who had suffered days of frustration finally had reason to smile.

 

Some passengers who had pre-purchased tickets for trips scheduled to leave in a few days were hoping to exchange them for tickets to leave as soon as possible.

 

A migrant woman named Huang explained: "We were going back to Anhui Province, but we've only got tickets for a trip leaving on Friday to nearby Nanjing.''

 

Huang's husband finally came back with tickets for a service to Bengbu City in Anhui that was due to leave in 30 minutes.

 

"Lucky we are leaving today,'' the husband said. "Snow will come again tomorrow. Price is not an issue to consider now.''

 

All provincial and local expressways were open for normal traffic by 4pm yesterday.

 

Transport planners have required coach operators to increase shuttles to popular destinations in Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces in recent days to take advantage of the improved weather. An extra 200 buses were placed on call.

 

"We have added more than 150 shuttles to leave today and the transport planners hope we can schedule more,'' said Zhang Yongbing, head of the city's general coach station.

 

"However, road traffic is still being interrupted by the weather. The condition of the highways, especially out of town, is still very unstable.

 

"This morning, some major provincial expressways were closed, which again delayed our schedules,'' Zhang said.

 

Air traffic at Hongqiao Airport largely returned to normal yesterday, but many flights were leaving behind schedule at Pudong International Airport, which also handles domestic flights.

  

(Shanghai Daily January 31, 2008)