The Indian Railways has undergone a massive transformation over the last decade — it has achieved its best safety record in nearly six decades; the highest ever track renewal in a financial year; has put on the map cities previously inaccessible in India’s northeast; and electrified a large part of its network.

In the 2018 budget, the Narendra Modi government allocated Rs 1.48 lakh crore for the Indian Railways, the highest ever for the national transporter with a nearly 13 per cent increase over the last year. Between 2014 and 2018, it spent nearly Rs 3.82 lakh crore on infrastructure creation, nearly 40 per cent more than Rs 2.3 lakh crore spent by the United Progressive Alliance on capital works between 2009 and 2014.

This record spending has translated into multiple large-scale infrastructure projects being undertaken by the Railways. Here are some of the largest projects that it is currently working on or are in the pipeline for approval:

The Chenab River Bridge

The Chenab rail bridge, which will rise 359-metre high, is being constructed between Bakkal and Kauri towns in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. Once complete, it will be the world's highest railway-arch bridge, nearly 35 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower in France. It is part of the Indian Railways' plan to link the Kashmir Valley to Udhampur and, in turn, with the rest of the country, through the Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Baramulla rail line. The 345-km-long Kashmir rail link, being executed by the Konkan Railways, is one of the expensive railway projects in India.

The bridge is being built by AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, which is part of Shapoorji Pallonji Group. The company has also worked on the Jammu-Udhampur National Highway, and on the 8.8-km horseshoe-shaped Rohtang tunnel in collaboration with Strabag SE of Austria, among other projects.

This bridge is now the only missing part in the railway link between Jammu city and the Kashmir Valley. It is expected to be complete by 2020.