Ranchi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday virtually flagged off six Vande Bharat trains for Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar and UP at Ranchi.

Earlier, the PM was scheduled to flag off the trains from Tatanagar but his chopper could not take off due to poor visibility and inclement weather conditions.

On the occasion, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar were present at Tatanagar station.

The new trains will run on the Tatanagar-Patna, Brahmapur-Tatanagar, Rourkela-Howrah, Deoghar-Varanasi, Bhagalpur-Howrah and Gaya-Howrah routes.

The trains will offer faster connectivity, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

The introduction of these Vande Bharat Express trains will benefit regular travellers, professionals, business and student communities.

These trains will boost religious tourism in the region by providing a faster mode of commute to pilgrimage sites like Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar (Jharkhand), Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Kalighat, Belur Math in Kolkata (West Bengal) etc.

Coal and mines industries in Dhanbad, jute industries in Kolkata, iron & steel allied sector in Durgapur will also get a major boost, the statement added.