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Following its announcement in late May regarding its interest in operating the Sofia to Burgas route with stops in Plovdiv and Stara Zagora, Pimk Rail Express is now seeking approval to extend its services to additional railway routes across Bulgaria.
On August 1, the company submitted a new request to launch several new train services starting December 2026. This information was initially reported by "Transportal" and can be found on the Executive Agency "Railway Administration" website under the section for assessing the economic viability of new public transport contracts.
Pimk's proposed routes include:
The company's documentation outlines sample timetables for these routes. For the Sofia to Radomir line, trains are scheduled to depart Sofia at 7:30 a.m., arriving in Radomir at 8:45 a.m., with the same schedule for the return journey.
On the route between Varna and Karnobat, Pimk plans for a travel time of 2 hours and 10 minutes. Trains will leave Varna at 7:00 a.m. and reach Karnobat by 9:10 a.m., with the return trip departing Karnobat at 8:00 a.m.
For the Plovdiv to Asenovgrad route, service will be more frequent, with departures from Plovdiv at 5:00 a.m., 6:40 a.m., 8:20 a.m., 10:00 a.m., and 11:40 a.m. From Asenovgrad, trains will leave at 5:50 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 9:10 a.m., 10:50 a.m., and 12:30 p.m. The journey is expected to take about 28 minutes.
The Sofia to Varna route will have a travel time of 6 hours and 39 minutes. Pimk plans to operate a night train departing Sofia at 00:10 and arriving in Varna at 06:49, with stops in Mezdra, Pleven, Gorna Oryahovitsa, and Shumen. There will also be daytime services departing Sofia at 7:20 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., with the same departure times for trains from Varna to Sofia.
To operate these routes, Pimk will use two Siemens Smartron electric locomotives and six renovated passenger cars, currently undergoing refurbishment at Han Krum railway station. These vehicles will be leased from IP Trans AD, a company affiliated with Pimk Rail Holding AD.
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