Rain-hit suburban train services in Mumbai are slowly limping back to normalcy with the first train chugging out of the Churchgate station around midnight.


Traffic on the Western Railway suburban network had come to a grinding halt earlier today due to torrential downpour. The first train left Churchgate in south Mumbai for Virar at 2358 hrs, the Western Railway tweeted.


"Evacuation of all stranded passengers is priority and trains will be run throughout the night, if required," it said.


Mumbai's suburban train network, which carries over 65 lakh passengers a day, is the lifeline of the financial capital and halting of the services had led to inconvenience to many office-goers who had braved the heavy rains to make it to their offices.


There was, however, no clarity over the fate of the trains of the Central Railway, which originates from the Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. The CR tweeted around 11:30 pm that services on the Thane-Kalyan line, which is a section on the main line, had resumed.


Image: A train pulls in at Mahim station on the Western railway at 1:58 am. Photo: Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com