Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off four Vande Bharat Express trains, including the one that operates on the Banaras-Khajuraho route.
The train, to be maintained and operated by the Northern Railway, will cover a distance of 443 km in 07.40 hours, making it the fastest train on the route.
With eight coaches—seven AC chair cars and one executive AC char car—it will operate six days a week except Thursday.
The train (No. 26422) will leave Varanasi at 5.25 am and arrive in Khajuraho at 1:10 pm. The return train (No. 26421) will depart from Khajuraho at 3:20 pm and arrive in Varanasi at 11 pm.
The route assumes significance as it links two key places—a pilgrimage hub in Uttar Pradesh and a heritage town in Madhya Pradesh. It will also connect some other religious and cultural destinations like Prayagraj and Chitrakoot.
The train will also have stops at Vindhyachal, Banda and Mahoba.
The other three Vande Bharat trains flagged off by the prime minister on Saturday will operate on the Lucknow-Saharanpur, Firozpur-Delhi and Ernakulam-Bengaluru routes.
"Trains like Vande Bharat, Namo Bharat and Amrit Bharat are laying the foundation of a new generation of Indian Railways," Modi said at the launch event.
Modi said pilgrimage sites are the centres of spirituality, and the development work done in Uttar Pradesh in the last 11 years has taken them to a new level.