Bulgaria Trains to Run at 200km/h after EU-Funded Reconstruction

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | April 22, 2008, Tuesday // 00:00
Bulgaria Trains to Run at 200km/h after EU-Funded Reconstruction: Bulgaria Trains to Run at 200km/h after EU-Funded Reconstruction Some Bulgarian trains might be able to run at a speed of 200km/h after EU-funded reconstruction. Presently it is impossible to reach more than 50km/h in most sections of Bulgarian rail lines. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)

Some Bulgarian trains will be able to travel at a speed of 200 km/h after EUR 580 M from the EU Operative Program "Transport" are absorbed for the modernization and reconstruction of Bulgaria's railways by 2013.

The news was announced Tuesday by the press service of the National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC). The funds have been allocated for the development of the railway transport in Bulgaria, which is a priority for the EU.

The EUR 580 M is 29% of the total budget of the Operative Program Transport for Bulgaria. This makes the NRIC the second largest beneficiary of the program after the Republic Road Infrastructure Fund, Bulgaria's road agency.

The EU funds will be used by the NRIC to modernize four railway lines: the Sofia-Vidin Line leading to Romania through the future Dabube Bridge 2, the Plovdiv-Svilengrad Line leading to the border with Turkey, the Sofia-Plovdiv Line, and the Sofia-Pernik-Radomir Line.

The Sofia-Vidin Line project is the largest of all - it will be worth EUR 320 M, and will allow the trains to run at 200km/h. Thus, the duration of the trip, which is currently five hours and ten minutes, will be reduced to about three hours.

EUR 120 M will be invested in the modernization of the Sofia-Plovdiv Line, allowing trains to run at 200 km/h there as well, reducing the duration of the total trip to one-and-a-half hours from over two-and-a-half hours presently.

The third project - the modernization and electrification of the Plovdiv-Svilengrand Line - will be worth about EUR 35 M. The total duration of the trip will become one hour and thirty minutes, down from two hours and forty minutes presently. It will provide for the transportation of goods and passengers from Central and Eastern Europe to Turkey and Greece.

The fourth project - the development of the Sofia-Pernik-Radomir line - will cost about EUR 100 M allowing to reduce the duration of the trip in half - down to 35 minutes from over an hour presently. This project is seen as critical for the Bulgarian capital Sofia because it is supposed to alleviate its traffic problems by reducing the number of cars from the nearby city of Pernik.

The NRIC has also prepared four alternative railways modernization projects worth a total of EUR 329 M. They are to be realized in case the EU funds could not be absorbed on time for the other four projects.

The alternative projects include the modernization of the Mezdra-Gorna Oryahovitsa Lina in northern Bulgaria (EUR 160 M), the Plovdiv-Burgas Line (EUR 63 M), the doubling and electrification of the Parvomay-Yabulkovo Line (EUR 23 M) in southern Bulgaria, and the modernization of the Sofia-Dragoman Line in western Bulgaria.

Virtually no infrastructure investments have been made in the Bulgarian railways in the last 20-30 years. At most sections of the railway lines the trains presently run at no more than 50km/h.

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