THIRTY-TWO workers building a train parking lot for Metro Line 18 inHangtouTown, Pudong, returned to Shanghai yesterday afternoon.

They were the first on active construction sites in Shanghai to be transported by bus from out of town, Shanghai Metro said.

They left fromZongyangCounty inTongling, a city in Anhui Province which is about 400 kilometers from Shanghai, and were driven directly to the construction site.

They will be placed in quarantine for 14 days before starting work.

Shanghai Metro said 14 of 196subprojectsin five active projects had started construction, and allsubprojectsare expected to reopen by the end of March.

The company said the delay could affect schedules for the completion of the work, but it will strive to meet the deadlines together with the other companies involved.

Meanwhile, the last trains of Metro lines 2, 5, 7, 8 and 16 from their terminal stations will be rescheduled to 9pm from today, it added.

Metro operators justified the decision due to a significant drop in passengers since the coronavirus outbreak and the need for maintenance of the Metro facilities.

While average daily Metro traffic between February 1 and 19 was only 1 million people, 10 percent of a normal day, ridership has not picked up substantially since companies in Shanghai were allowed to resume work.

Passengers are especially few after 9pm. The company said that it will use the reduced operating schedule to more carefully disinfect the trains.