India, July 16 -- With the Central Railway (CR) restoring and reopening the south east down line between Karjat and Lonavla late Tuesday night, rail services between Pune and Mumbai are set to return to near normal from Thursday. With the reopening of the second railway line in the landslide-hit ghat section, the iconic Deccan Queen and Mumbai CSMT-Pune Intercity Express will resume services, bringing relief to thousands of passengers affected by disruptions over the past 10 days.

According to the CR, the south east down line was restored on July 14 following intensive repair work. Three goods trains were first operated as trial runs. Thereafter, train number 22107 CSMT-Latur Express became the first passenger train to use the restored l...