Bulgaria rail industry news
Business news about railway operations, services and the supply industry in Bulgaria.
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NewsStadler selected for Bulgarian double-deck train order
BULGARIA: Stadler has been selected to supply seven double-deck electric multiple-units for use by national passenger operator BDZ . Stadler’s bid came in at 301m leva, including 15 years of maintenance, with a delivery time of 26 months. The 200 km/h units will have a capacity ...
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NewsBulgarian operator buys DB coaches
BULGARIA: National passenger operator BDZ-Putnicheski Prevozi has bought 76 second-hand coaches from Germany’s Deutsche Bahn for use on services from Sofia to Varna, Burgas and Ruse. The €15·7m contract signed on March 29 covers 60 second class open saloon coaches, six second class cars for passengers ...
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NewsCRRC drops Bulgarian train bid following EU investigation
BULGARIA: CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive has withdrawn its bid for a contract to supply 20 push-pull trainsets, after the European Commission launched an investigation into whether the Chinese state-owned company might have benefited from an unfair subsidy. The tender from the Ministry of Transport & Communications ...
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NewsBulgarian Talgo 230 push-pull train proposal revealed
BULGARIA: Spanish manufacturer Talgo has announced details of the trainsets it has proposed in response to a call for tenders to supply and maintain 20 push-pull inter-city trainsets. CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive submitted a much lower bid for the tender called by Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport ...
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NewsEuropean Commission investigates whether CRRC received market-distorting subsidy
BULGARIA: The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into whether a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned rolling stock group CRRC received unfair subsidy enabling it to submit a low bid for a contract. The investigation announced on February 16 is the first under the Foreign Subsidies ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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.
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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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.
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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.