Kochi Metro Rail Ltd has received the first set of 25 trains for Kochi Metro from French company Alstom.
The order was placed in August 2014 and the company today delivered the first set from its plant inside Sri City.
The coaches have been manufactured at a tendered cost of ₹632.95 crore . All the 25 trains will be delivered by April 2017.
The Union Minister for Urban Development, Parliamentary Affairs, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Venkaiah Naidu, flagged off the first train set in the presence of Aryadan Muhammed, Minister for Power and Railways, Kerala.
Elias George, Managing Director, Kochi Metro Rail Ltd, said the metro cars have been manufactured end-to-end by Alstom in India and are delivered ahead of schedule in a record time of 15 months.
"It is a truly Made in India product," he said. " I am told by Alstom officials that nearly 70 per cent of the raw materials were sourced locally for the trains sets," he said.
Muhanmed said that the first train set was supposed to be delivered in May 2016 but was delivered five months ahead of schedule.