Extra trains laid on to handle New Year holiday rush
The waiting hall at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station is full of passengers for the holiday travel rush.
Shanghai's railway stations are expected to see off 505,000 passengers on Saturday, the first day of the three-day New Year holiday, according to the railway authority.
It's estimated that the total number of passengers leaving Shanghai by train from Friday to Tuesday next week will exceed 1.8 million, an 8.9 percent increase from the same period in 2019. Saturday is the peak day for outbound trips and Monday will see the return peak.
By Friday, railway stations in the Yangtze River Delta region have recorded 800 million departures this year, including more than 120 million departing from Shanghai.
To handle the increase of passengers during the New Year's holiday, Shanghai's railway authority added 25 trains heading to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces.
Passengers queue to board trains.
Weather
The foggy weather has caused the cancellation and delay of some flights at local airports.
As of 2:30pm Saturday afternoon, the cancellation rate of Pudong Airport hit 19 percent, and the delay rate was 31 percent, according to the flight tracking app, Flight Master.
On Friday, Shanghai's metro operation company, Shentong Group, extended the operation of Metro Line 2 starting from the Pudong International Airport Station to midnight to handle delayed passengers.
On Monday, Metro lines 1, 2, 10 and 17 will increase additional trains to cope with the travel return peak of the holiday.
Also, from Friday to Sunday, Metro lines 1, 7, 8, 9, 10 as well as 13 will extend their operating hours to meet local residents increasing travel needs.
The city was hit by drizzle on Saturday, with the temperature ranging between 8 and 14 degrees Celsius.
A weak cold front is forecast to arrive in the city later on Saturday, making the mercury on Sunday dip to between 5 and 9 degrees.
But sunshine is predicted to return to the city on Sunday and Monday.
From tonight to tomorrow, the city will be slightly polluted with a haze, according to local ecological officials. The main pollutant will be PM 2.5.
