Development of the railway sector in the Republic of Bulgaria

A very important factor for the development of the transport sector in the Republic of Bulgaria is its geographical location, providing a good link between Europe and Asia and a bridge between the West and the East. To a great extent this pre-determines the potential functions of Bulgaria from a transport perspective: A transit country between the rich in natural resources countries from the Middle East, Western and Middle Asia in the East/South East and the economically and industrially strong Western and Central European states in the West/North West.

The favourable geographical location is materialised with the five Pan-European Transport Corridors that pass through the Bulgarian territory: ІV, VІІ, VІІІ, ІХ and Х. This fact is both positive and demanding because it requires huge investment for improving and maintaining the existing infrastructure, as well as for the construction of the missing links. In that sense, the right identification of short-term, mid-term and long-term priorities is of utmost significance for maximising the expected benefits. In identifying these priorities, both the EC Member States’ policies with regards to the development of the trans- European Transport Network (TEN-T) and the transport policies and plans of the rest of the countries in the region are taken into consideration.

Development of railway transport is a key priority in the Bulgarian national transport policy. A competitive railway sector is important for Bulgaria because of its role in providing basic infrastructure for the domestic economy and its impact on our competitiveness. It is an essential element of the Bulgarian transport system contributing to the improvement of the accessibility level and the mobility of citizens and freight.

Having in mind the specific characteristics of the Bulgarian railways, we concentrated our efforts on the construction of the main transport infrastructure links of national, cross-border and EU importance, as well as the infrastructure, necessary for the intermodal transport. For the realisation of this ambitious task we rely a lot on European financing.

The Operational Programme on Transport 2007-2013 (OPT) is one of the seven operational programmes of the Republic of Bulgaria which are financed by the Structural and the Cohesion Funds of the EU. It is the programme with the largest budget in Bulgaria – €2,003,481,163.

The OPT is focused on the railway, road and waterway infrastructure, as well as the stimulation of the intermodal transport in accordance with the European transport policy and the established requirements in the TEN-T Guidelines. The indicative budget for the development of the railway infrastructure for the period 2007-2013 is €580 million. Additional funds are allocated for the improvement of the intermodality for passengers and freight.

There are several large infrastructure projects currently under implementation that have been secured with EU funding. At final realisation stage, there are two projects: Construction of the second combined bridge between Bulgaria and Romania over the Danube River at Vidin-Calafat and reconstruction and electrification of Svilengrad-Turkish/Greek borders railway line. They should be completed by the end of 2013.

Another three projects are also in progress – rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure along the Plovdiv-Burgas railway line, modernisation of the Sofia-Plovdiv railway line (Septemvri- Plovdiv section) and reconstruction and electrification of the Plovdiv-Svilengrad railway line (Dimitrovgrad-Svilengrad section). The Plovdiv-Dmitrovgrad section was recently successfully completed.

Our plans for the 2007-2013 period also include the design of some additional railway lines and key junctions, rehabilitation of the Sofia Central Railway Station and the construction of an intermodal terminal in Plovdiv.

In parallel with the implementation of these projects, we have started the preparation for the next programming period 2014-2020. According to the available EU sources, we will try to achieve the following railway infrastructure developments by 2020:

• Construction of the entire ‘east-west’ railway direction: Serbian border-Sofia-Plovdiv- Burgas/Svilengrad-Turkish/Greek borders
• Modernisation of other important railway lines (Sofia- Pernic- Radomir, Vidin-Ruska Biala)
• Construction of key railway junctions (Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas) and intermodal terminals (Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse).

The implementation of the planned projects will allow extending the capacity of the network, achieving the necessary interoperability with the trans-European Transport Network, as well as elimination of the bottlenecks along the main axes.

The railway infrastructure development is one of the most important priorities in the transport sector. The other one is the implementation of an ambitious reform in the railways with an aim to transform it into a vibrant industry that competes effectively in the transport marketplace by providing attractive, highquality, and environmentally-friendly railway passenger and freight services to customers.

Today, the challenges facing railways in Bulgaria call for a new business model for this industry, in which we plan to achieve a cultural change in the management of the railways and in the state’s role in the sector. The railway reform is necessary to support our long-term vision, since that would foster future economic growth. Our Government’s financial support to railways should be matched by improved public services and enhanced financial results.

We have prepared a Railway Reform Programme designed to address these challenges and to put the railway sector on a sustainable footing for the future. The imple – mentation of the Programme will restructure the sector to move it towards financial viability and start contributing to our economic development and will introduce good governance principles given the role of the state. A number of key policy and institutional actions have already been implemented and we are ready to move ahead with the rest of the reform agenda.

Although a lot of work has been done to the Bulgarian railways over recent years, there are still many tasks that the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications plans to achieve in the future. We believe in the success of our efforts.