Six fast trains between Sofia and Varna and between Sofia and Burgas would race through Pavlikeni without stopping under the first draft of a new BDZ Passenger Services timetable. Residents are protesting. Mayor Emanuil Manolov says BDZ has promised to review the draft.
People want at least some of the fast trains to stop in the town. The mayor is pressing for at least the Sofia–Burgas trains in both directions. Without them, Manolov said, passengers will wait about 3 hours for a train to Sofia and Varna.
More than 6,000 people signed a petition in about a week, asking for the timetables to be reviewed. A local resident started it. The mayor gave it to BDZ after protests in the town and a meeting with the company's management.
Manolov called the talks constructive, but said managers advised him to take the petition back. He said BDZ replied that it has no shortage of such petitions and knows how they are made.
The man who started the petition said people reacted after BDZ decided that no express train would go through the station. He said the issue hits locals hard. In his view, older people, young families and those who cannot travel by car need the train most. Young people should be encouraged to travel, he said, and people should be able to reach big cities and hospitals easily.
Residents fear that without the express trains, getting to big cities and medical centres will be harder. The town council says connections to Gorna Oryahovitsa, Veliko Tarnovo, Pleven and Svishtov also run through the station, mostly because the region has few buses.
A former station employee, now a regular passenger to Cherven Bryag and other destinations, also wants the timetable changed. "Stopping the express trains is simply a crime against the town, the district and its people," she told BNT. She hopes for a good future for the station, which is 129 years old.
Residents plan another protest on Saturday.