A railway linking Beijing with Baotou, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, reopened Thursday after rain-triggered flooding had left traffic paralyzed since late Wednesday.

Strong downpours pelted Inner Mongolia starting around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, inundating two sections of the rail line with floodwater and silt, according to the railway bureau of Hohhot, the regional capital.

The bureau said 24 train trips had been delayed, leaving about 12,000 passengers stranded.

Traffic had resumed as of 10 a.m. Thursday after 500 soldiers were mobilized to pump water and repair tracks at the flooded sections.

Freight and passenger trains have resumed travel on the line but have reduced their speed to less than 35 km/hour for safety concerns, the bureau said.

Torrential rains have devastated 22 provincial-level regions in China since July 20, including Beijing where the heaviest rains in six decades Saturday killed 77.