Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a series of transport projects aimed at easing mobility in and around Bengaluru, India’s technology hub. At the city’s KSR railway station, Modi flagged off three new Vande Bharat Express services linking Bengaluru to Belagavi in northern Karnataka, Amritsar to the shrine town of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra and Nagpur (Ajni) to Pune. The high-speed, semi-automatic trains are part of the government’s plan to expand faster inter-city rail links across the country. Modi later commissioned the Yellow Line of the Bangalore Metro, a 19-kilometre stretch from RV Road (Ragigudda) to Bommasandra comprising 16 stations built at a cost of about Rs7,160 crore (USD860 million). The prime minister, accompanied by Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, took a short ride on the new line to Electronic City, home to many of the city’s technology companies. The projects are expected to strengthen connectivity within Karnataka and between key commercial and religious centres elsewhere in the country. Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Bengaluru–Belagavi service fulfils a long-standing demand from northern Karnataka residents, while officials estimate the fully operational Yellow Line could eventually carry as many as 800,000 passengers a day.