BULGARIA: National Railway Infrastructure Co has awarded a consortium of Hitachi Rail and CERB a contract to install ERTMS on the 35 km Voluyak – Dragoman section of the route from Sofia to the Serbian border.
Hitachi Rail will lead the consortium and take charge of design, delivery, installation and commissioning of the ETCS Level 1 trackside equipment. CERB will manage local installation activities and oversee the turnkey implementation of GSM-R. The project is scheduled for completion in 34 months.
‘In combination with Hitachi Rail’s previous ERTMS deployments, the Voluyak – Dragoman section helps complete a modernised, interoperable rail corridor linking the Serbian border, Sofia, the Black Sea and the Turkish border — supporting more efficient freight flows and reliable international passenger services across the region’, said Manfred Zekl, Head of Hitachi Rail’s Bulgarian branch, on October 30.
Hitachi Rail has project offices in Sofia and Plovdiv and has delivered more than 250 km of ETCS Level 1 trackside systems, more than 100 ETCS onboard systems, electronic interlockings and a central traffic control centre on lines across Bulgaria, including on the routes from Plovdiv to Svilengrad, Septemvri and Burgas.
- Under a separate two-year contract, Hitachi Rail will provide NRIC contractor Alokor EAD with technical assistance, spare parts and expert support for the maintenance of signalling systems on the Sofia – Plovdiv – Svilengrad corridor.
