A queue outside the cancellations counter at Calcutta airport on Thursday. Picture by Amit Datta

After three days of a seemingly endless wait, Imtiaaz Ahmed finally caught a flight for Mumbai on Thursday evening.

With rains forcing a shutdown at Mumbai airport and railway tracks submerged, hundreds of people like Ahmed, scheduled to leave for the Maharashtra capital by air or rail, were left stranded in Calcutta.

Thursday was marginally better, with flight operations resuming in the afternoon and a train from Nasik ? although with only ?30 to 40 per cent of the capacity? ? arriving around 8.45 pm at Howrah.

?I don?t know what?s happened to my folks there, not being able to contact anyone, as the phone lines have snapped,? said Ahmed, who took the Indian Airlines flight at 7.30 pm.

Indian Airlines operated two flights to Mumbai on Thursday, the first leaving with 142 passengers and the second with only 62 on board. ?With international flights yet to operate out of Mumbai, most Calcuttans preferred to travel via Delhi instead. Many Calcuttans planning a holiday in Mumbai cancelled their tickets,? said an Indian Airlines spokesperson. Besides Indian Airlines, Air Sahara operated two flights and Jet Airways one flight on Thursday.

Those preferring the Delhi detour to Mumbai included Ruprekha Bannerjee and Arijit Singh, star students of Sony?s Fame Gurukul. The duo appearing for the musical talent hunt had been stranded in the city since Tuesday and took a Delhi flight in the evening.

On the ground, South Eastern Railway cancelled several trains on Thursday, including the Kurla Express, Mumbai Mail via Nagpur, Geetanjali Express and the Jnaneswari Express. They remain cancelled on Friday as well. Eastern Railway cancelled the Howrah-Mumbai Express via Allahabad. A special South Eastern Railway train is scheduled to leave for Nagpur from Howrah at 1.30 pm on Friday, while three are expected to arrive from Maharashtra.

The Mumbai mess caused cancellations and extensions at star hotels on Thursday, too. ITC Sonar Bangla reported a ?10 to 15 per cent? cancellation by people who had booked from Mumbai, while Hyatt Regency had to accommodate around 90 passengers of a private airline in 50 rooms in the past two days.