The sale of train tickets for destinations in northern China resumed in Shanghai yesterday, three days after they were halted because of the havoc caused by the bad weather.

Roads connecting Shanghai and neighboring cities were also reopened, while short-distance trains headed for nearby cities such as Hangzhou also started running as the weather began to clear up, officials said.

Officials from the Shanghai railway bureau have asked all passengers who intend to go to Guangzhou to make alternative plans, as the impact of the heavy snowfall in the southern regions remains harsh.

The authorities have set up temporary shelters for stranded passengers in the square outside the station.

According to electricity authority officials, the worst of the power shortages has also passed.

Wang Changxing from the Shanghai Electric Power Co Ltd told China Daily yesterday that the city's daily peak load for power generation has dropped to under 18 million kW.

Wang said the highest loads were seen on Jan 25 and Monday, when it rose to more than 18.1 million kW.

"In those two days, we bought 300,000 kW and 200,000 kW, respectively, from Zhejiang province," Wang said.

"The situation there has improved a lot as many privately owned companies have stopped operations because of the lunar new year holidays," he said.

Shanghai is currently producing about 13 million kW a day and buying about 4 million kW from other regions and provinces such as the Three Gorges area, Anhui, Fujian and Zhejiang, Wang said.

Lin Haiyu from the East China Grid Co Ltd said that Shanghai has sufficient coal stocks to fuel at least a week's power supply.

She was also keen to dispel notions that the city was facing the danger of running out of coal.

"I can't see such a shortage in our company's tracking system," she said.

One the weather front, local forecasters have said that Shanghai will see more rain and snow - rating medium to high on the scales - starting this afternoon.

The lowest temperatures are predicted to reach as low as -3 C in the some suburban areas of the city, the forecasters said.

(China Daily February 1, 2008)