ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has said that the previous as well as the ruling government is responsible for the crisis Pakistan Railways is faced with at present. He said the neighbouring country - India - got independent at the same time when Pakistan was freed but it upgraded its railways while the rulers of Pakistan ignored this important sector after the decade of 1960s. He said it was the reason that Pakistan Railways was now at a position where they had to close not only the cargo train but also the passenger trains. The minister expressed these views during a special interview with TheNation on Tuesday. He said Pakistan Railways was one of the most important institutions of the country after the independence, as it was a very significant means of transportation of passengers and goods. He added that its destruction started when the country was disintegrated. He said at that time Pakistan had 1,000 railway engines, which had been working despite termination of their life span, however they went out of order with the passage of time. He maintained that previous governments did not give the required budgetary allocation to Pakistan Railways, which was why new engines could not be inducted in the Railways fleet. He said even the situation reached a point at present that they had only 120 to 130 engines, which were insufficient for running trains on all the passenger routes. Ghulam Ahmad Bilour observed that the former rulers preferred road transport ignoring the railways, saying that the road infrastructure was made stronger for the benefit of specific class of transporters and the railways budget was cut every passing year. He said that Indias railways system was the worlds biggest and unique one, adding that it had 8,300 locomotives at present while Pakistan had only 120. He added that New Delhi had trafficking of 800 trains a day and none of the trains got late from its prescribed time. He said Indias government allocated huge budget for the repair of old engines and the purchase of new ones. He also exemplified China saying that trains speed remained 3500-kilometre per hour, while Pakistan could not take the speed beyond 65-kilometre per hour. Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said the Railways crisis would not be intensified to this extent if the former finance minister Shaukat Tareen had released the bailout package, approved by the federal cabinet, in 2010. He said if the government gave 10.1 billion to Railways by the month-end, they would immediately start repair of out of order engines and thus the induction repaired and new engines would start within next few months. He said he attracted the attention of President and Prime Minister towards Railways several times, but they always used to say that no funds could be given to it due to financial crisis.