BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday highlighted how public transport infrastructure plays an important role in the country’s developmental journey, with better connectivity across cities creating new opportunities for progress, employment and industry.
“Infrastructure plays a very important role in any country’s development journey. Better connectivity creates new opportunities for progress, employment and industry. And when these opportunities for development reach every section of society, the fight against poverty also grows stronger. This is why nearly 50 crore citizens of the country have emerged from extreme poverty in recent years,” PM Modi said during the inaguration of the Namma metro pink line.
Highlighting how such infrastructural projects, including the metro, and the Vande Bharat will be a push towards developed India, PM Modi added, “The project launching today will further this development journey. This will give new impetus to the creation of a developed Karnataka and from a developed Karnataka, a developed India.”
A major boost to Karnataka’s growth! Projects worth over ₹15,000 crore are being launched today to strengthen connectivity and energy security. https://t.co/jfMwD06wCK
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 13, 2026
“It will also strengthen Bengaluru’s identity as a tech city. I extend my best wishes to the people of Karnataka,” PM Modi said. The new metro line will faciliate better connectivity of educational institutions across the city, with the commuters saving significant money and time due to the new project.
“With this new metro line, connectivity between Bengaluru and numerous educational institutions will be further improved. Furthermore, areas known as major business, technology, and commercial centers in Bengaluru will also be connected by the metro,” PM Modi said.
Earlier, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar also hailed the newly inagurated metro saying that the state is planning to build atleast 500 kilometres of the metro rail, with 103 kilomters already built.
“The hard work thousands of engineers, workers sufficiently have contributed for this great city who has come up with already we have finished more than 103 kilometers of this line. I think we are planning to have at least 500 kilometers,” CM Shivakumar said, while hailing the hard work of engineers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged off new Vande Bharat chair car services connecting Bengaluru, Mangaluru and Margao, to strengthen rail connectivity between the three regions. Karnataka CM DK Shivakumar was also present on the occasion.
Railway Board Chairman Satish Kumar highlighted that the dedication of a doubling project between Bagalkot and Vandal, along with the electrification of the Sakleshwar-Subramanya Road route, through which the Vande Bharat Chair Car will travel, represents a major boost to the economy as it will significantly reduce dependency on diesel fuel.
To strengthen rail links across Bengaluru, coastal Karnataka, and Goa, Indian Railways has launched the new Yesvantpur-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express, offering direct access to major stops such as Hassan, Sakleshpur, Subrahmanya Road, Mangaluru, Udupi, Kundapura, Murdeshwar, Gokarna, and Karwar.According to South Western Railway, regular operations will begin on November 15 following the run of two inaugural special services on November 13. (ANI)
