Snow and icy rain in regions outside Shanghai continued to disrupt transportation to and from the city yesterday - but travel was better than on Thursday.

Rail officials said that almost all trains arrived and left on schedule yesterday - good news for the day's 240,000 passengers desperate to get back for Spring Festival family reunions.

"The power wires and tracks affected by the snow and rain have been gradually fixed," said a railway spokesman.

On Thursday, thousands of passengers were stranded at railway stations for about five hours when at least 15 trains were delayed. But most people boarded their trains back home by late Thursday night.

The situation at the city's long-distance bus stations also improved, though more than 30 bus routes, mainly to Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Anhui provinces, were canceled yesterday because of bad weather in the northern part of the country.

On Thursday, traffic authorities halted 180 routes.

Gales hitting local waters since Thursday will continue to affect ferries today, said the Shanghai maritime safety administration.

The administration estimated that 3,000 passengers who intend to go back to Zhejiang Province's Zhoushan Island could be held up.

The maritime authorities will arrange ferries to send them home with the escort of patrol boats.

At the city's two airports, about 100 flights, domestic and international, were affected yesterday.

Most of the delays were reported at the Pudong International Airport, where nearly 60 flights were stalled for at least an hour, mainly domestic trips to places hit by snow.