The remodelling of the yard, groundwork for which has already begun, will be carried out in a record time of 48 hours to minimise inconvenience to travellers, Northern Railways General Manager S.P. Mehta said here today.

The actual work would be taken up some time in February when almost all the trains would either be cancelled or diverted to New Delhi and Nizamuddin Stations for two days, he said. The remodelling work will include improving the network of signals and tracks for better reception and despatch of trains, and doubling of the number of route-interlocking from 548 to 1,122.

The railways have already completed remodelling of New Delhi and Ghaziabad stations. While the New Delhi station was ready in 40 days, work at the Ghaziabad station was complete in 11, Mehta said.

Remodelling of a railway yard, taken up after 12 to 15 years, normally takes 60 to 70 days leading to slight disruption in train services, the general manager added. Mehta said that Phase 3 and 4 of the New Delhi station remodelling project was being delayed because some jhuggis had come up in the area and admitted that political and administrative pressure was in a way responsible for that. He said that a new building would come up soon in the Nizamuddin station complex soon and that while the proposal for a second entry to the station was being hindered due to some DDA construction which was coming in the way.

``The DDA has not yet demolished the structure as promised,'' he said, adding measures had been taken to improve the station and that the circulation area was bigger now.

The Railways also has an ambitious plan to install automatic water-vending machines at all major stations in the northern zone to provide potable drinking water to over 11 lakh passengers which use its services every day.