Bulgaria rail industry news
Business news about railway operations, services and the supply industry in Bulgaria.
-
NewsBicycle and ski van added to Bulgarian narrow gauge trains
BULGARIA: National railway BDZ now offers bicycle and ski vans on the 760 mm line between Septemvri and Dobrinishte. Two vans are available on weekends from November 4. They have been converted from parcels vans, and are fitted with racks for bicycles ...
-
Metro Report InternationalTrains ordered for Sofia metro Line 3 extension project
BULGARIA: Sofia metro operator Metropolitan JSC has awarded the Simetro consortium of Siemens Mobility and Newag a €68m contract to supply a further eight trainsets for Line 3. The order announced on July 20 will take the Line 3 fleet to 38 Inspiro trainsets ordered in ...
-
Metro Report InternationalSofia orders Warszawa-style metro trains adapted for a hotter climate
BULGARIA: Sofia metro operator Metropolitan JSC has awarded Škoda Group a €65m contract to supply eight four-car trainsets. These will be a follow-on from vehicles supplied to Warszawa, but equipped with powerful air-conditioning suitable for the warmer climate and surface running sections of the Sofia network. ...
-
NewsTrack machine order signed
BULGARIA: National Railway Infrastructure Co has awarded Plasser & Theurer a contract to supply three track machines. The contract signed by the infrastructure manager’s General Director Zlatin Krumov on June 19 covers the supply of a tamper, a ballast profiling machine and a machine for replacing ...
-
NewsNarrow gauge locos refurbished
BULGARIA: Express Service has completed the refurbishment of two Class 77 diesel locomotives used by national operator BDZ on the 760 mm gauge Septemvri – Dobrinishte line. The 4m leva contract was awarded in May 2020. The Maybach diesel engines have been replaced with Stage V ...
-
NewsBulgaria to realign railway to Romanian border
BULGARIA: Infrastructure manager NKZI has announced plans to replace the Medkovets – Vidin section of its Sofia – Vidin main line serving the northwest of the country with a new alignment, enabling passenger trains to run at 160 km/h and freight trains at 120 km/h. The ...
-
NewsFirst tunnel completed for Bulgarian route upgrade
BULGARIA: Construction of a 1 km twin-bore tunnel has been completed as part of the upgrading of the 20 km Elin Pelin – Vakarel section of the Sofia – Plovdiv line. This section is the most complex part of a 498·8m lev EU-backed project to modernise ...
-
NewsCeremony marks start of work on Skopje – Sofia link
NORTH MACEDONIA: A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the start of civil works to complete the long-planned rail link between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
-
NewsSuburban railway planned as alternative to Plovdiv’s congested roads
BULGARIA: Plans for a suburban rail network to relieve road congestion in Plovdiv are to drawn up shortly, Minister of Transport & Communications Nikolay Sabev said during a visit to the city in April. The ministry said 45 000 people travel to work by car in ...
-
NewsBulgarian train operations reintegrated
BULGARIA: The state rail operations holding company BDZ Holding and its passenger BDZ Ptnicheski Prevozi passenger and BDZ Tovarni Prevozi freight businesses have been reunited as one organisation, Minister of Transport & Communications Nikolay Sabev announced on February 4.
-
Metro Report InternationalSofia orders 25 trams after delayed process
BULGARIA: Sofia operator Elektrotransport has ordered 25 Swing trams from Pesa Bydgoszcz, the Polish manufacturer’s fourth order from the city. They are to be delivered in 2023, taking the city’s Pesa fleet to 62 of the Swing design. The latest batch of 1 009 mm gauge ...
-
Metro Report InternationalSofia metro cars refurbished
BULGARIA: TMH’s Metrowagonmash subsidiary has returned 12 Type 81-717.4/714.4 metro cars to Sofia Metro following their refurbishment. Sofia Metro has 168 cars which were built at the Mytishchi plant in Russia. A pilot batch of eight vehicles was modernised under a contract signed in December 2018, ...
-
NewsBulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania sign rail corridor memorandum
EUROPE: Ministers from Bulgaria, Albania and North Macedonia have signed a memorandum covering plans to complete the missing rail links between their countries by 2030, but cautioned that this will require signficant investment. Bulgaria is to complete the upgrading of the Sofia – Pernik – Radomir ...
-
In depthCentral & Eastern Europe: Rail at heart of recovery package
Railways across central and eastern Europe stand to benefit as member states submit their national post-Covid recovery plans to the EU in order to access temporary stimulus funds. Toma Bačić provides a snapshot of proposals from five countries.
-
Metro Report InternationalSofia inaugurates Line 3 extension
BULGARIA: A 3·8 km western extension of Sofia metro Line 3 from Krasno Selo and Gorna Banya opened on April 24.
-
NewsBombardier Transportation opens Sofia office to support Bulgarian projects
BULGARIA: Bombardier Transportation has established a subsidiary in Bulgaria and opened a project management office in Sofia. ‘With substantial rail modernisation underway in Bulgaria, this new office marks a significant milestone in Bombardier’s commitment to this growing market’, said Richard Hunter, President, Rail Control Solutions at Bombardier ...
-
Metro Report International‘Most beautiful and cheapest’ metro line opens in Sofia
BULGARIA: The first phase of Sofia Metro Line M3 opened on August 26, running 7·8 km east–west from Hadzhi Dimitar on Bulevard Vladimir Vazov to Krasno Selo with eight stations. ‘Our metro is the most beautiful and cheapest in Europe’, said Prime Minister ...
-
NewsBDZ to repower narrow gauge locomotives
BULGARIA: National operator BDZ has allocated 4m leva for modernisation of the 760 mm gauge diesel locomotives used on the 125 km Septemvri – Bansko – Dobrinishte line in the Rhodope mountains. The three classes of four-axle diesel locomotives on BDZ’s only remaining narrow gauge line were ...
-
NewsSmartron locomotives ordered for passenger services
BULGARIA: National operator BDZ has signed a contract for Siemens Mobility to supply 10 Smartron electric locomotives between February and May 2021 for use on passenger services. Siemens’ local subsidiary Siemens Tron was sole bidder for the contract, although Bombardier Transportation, Stadler Rail and the Excelor-EL consortium ...
-
NewsOne bidder for Bulgarian loco contract
BULGARIA: A local subsidiary of Siemens Mobility has been confirmed as the only company to submit technical and financial bids for a contract to supply and maintain 10 electric locomotives for use on BDZ’s passenger services. The national railway intends to assess the technical proposal before opening ...