Making further inroads into the growing South-East Asian nation, Indian Railways have signed a mega $ 1 billion rail link project in Malaysia. Railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who is on a two-day visit to Malaysia, inked the contract for Electrified Double Tracking Project between Seremban and Gemas bagged by IRCON International Ltd, a public service undertaking of the ministry of railways, with Malaysian minister of transport Datuk Ong Tee Keat in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. "The awarding of this contract to IRCON is an important achievement in the bilateral cooperation in the field of infrastructure, which will be further strengthened between the two countries," said railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. According to railway officials, the mega project, to be completed within 48 months, will involve the construction of 34 river bridges, 107 small bridges and one 8-km long tunnel. In the first phase of the project, work up to Sangai Gaddud will be completed by July 2010. The presence of Indian Railways in Malaysia is not new. In fact, it dates back to 1988 when IRCON executed the rehabilitation of railway track from Paloh to Singapore and Slim river to Seremban. Since then, IRCON has successfully completed and commissioned 11 major railway projects, which included approximately 441 kilometres of track rehabilitation and construction of 200 kilometres of new track. Besides this, IRCON is having a contract or leasing of locomotives to Malaysian Railways for the past few years, which is being extended on an yearly basis, said an IRCON official. Stating that the Indian railways would need an investment of around Rs 80,000 crores in important projects like upgradation of 26 railway stations as world-class and the Eastern and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridors through PPP mode, the minister invited Bharat Club and Consortium of Indian Industries in Malaysia to participate in important non-core railway projects.