The Metropolitan Municipality of Sofia plans to purchase additional metro trains from the Czech manufacturer Skoda, which is the sole bidder for this contract, "Dnevnik" reports. The order, valued at 140 million leva excluding VAT, includes eight new trains. These trains are expected to primarily serve Line 2 ("Nadezhda" - "Lozenets"), but will also be utilized on Lines 1 ("Lyulin" - "Mladost") and 4 ("Obelya" - Sofia Airport), as detailed in the announcement on the "ЦАИС ЕОП" website.

Currently, the metro lines are operated by Russian-made trains and Siemens trains, which are Austrian-Polish in origin. Due to European Union sanctions against Russia, which stipulate that more than 50% of goods must be produced within the EU, the "Metropolitan" company has begun to collaborate with European manufacturers.

Stoyan Bratoev, Director of "Metropolitan," explained that the goal of acquiring new trains is to reduce rush hour intervals to four to four and a half minutes. He noted that passenger traffic has surged by 20-25% in the past two years, particularly on the second metro line. The introduction of new trains is intended to address this increased demand and improve waiting times.

Skoda, which already has a contract for another eight metro trains to be delivered by summer 2023, will fulfill this new order as well. These trains will run on the same lines as the ones currently being assembled. Additionally, eight trains for the third metro line have been ordered from Siemens, which will also support the city's transportation needs.

The total purchase of 24 new metro trains is expected to accommodate the city's transit requirements for the next 20 years. The funding for these acquisitions will come from the Metropolitan Municipality’s budget.