L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd (LTMRHL) has confirmed that it has received the first lot of rails for Hyderabad metro rail project from France.

LTMRHL, which is developing a metro project in Hyderabad, has received rails weighing 5,000 tons from Tata Steel's French plant, which has supplied rails to several major railway projects across the globe, including to the Indian market.

The infrastructure giant will lay down the rails as tracks at its depot in Uppal area of the city.

V. B. Gadgil, CEO and managing director of LTMRHL, said, "This development marks the beginning of the utilization of international expertise on ground for the prestigious Hyderabad Metro Rail project."

The rails, which were first shipped to Mumbai and then transported by road on special trailers to Hyderabad, are 18 metres in length and nearly 1,100 kg in weight each.

LTMRHL will procure about 22,500 metric tons of rails in six lots for the 72-kilometer project that will cost an estimated of Rs 14,132 crore.

The public private partnership project will comprise three high-density corridors with a total of 66 elevated metro stations. The project is expected to become fully operational by mid of 2017.