Rail crisis deepens: 70 carriages to be missing by year's end
Sofia. The Bulgarian railway network is facing a deepening crisis that threatens to paralyze passenger transport. According to a statement by Transport Minister Grozdan Karadzhov, around 36 to 37 carriages are already insufficient to cover the current train schedule, and the alarming forecast is that this deficit will increase to 70 by the end of the year.
This troubling data was announced during a parliamentary oversight session, where Minister Karadzhov answered pointed questions from MP Pavlin Naydenov of APS. Naydenov pointed out that orders worth 3-4 billion levs for the purchase of train sets and investments in tracks have been announced in recent months, but despite this, the state of railway transport shows no signs of improvement.
The minister clarified that the contract for public passenger service, worth 1.4 billion levs, was signed for a 12-year period. He emphasized that this amount is practically equal to the subsidy that the state pays to "BDZ-Passenger Services" as of today, multiplied by 12 years. Karadzhov was adamant that state subsidization of the activity is absolutely mandatory to ensure the accessibility of railway transport for citizens.
However, the problem with the missing carriages is just the tip of the iceberg. Minister Karadzhov revealed that the condition of the rolling stock is "at an extremely bad level". He pointed out that a significant portion of the carriages are over 40 years old and should not be running at all, but they continue to be in operation.
In a normal situation, these carriages should not be running, but they are still being repaired. They are kept in service for the simple reason that there are no carriages, he explained.
The carriage deficit is already having a direct impact on passenger services. Due to the shortage, over 36 trains have been stopped in three different regions of the country, with their train sets redirected to destinations with more intense traffic during the summer season. Although orders for new rolling stock have been announced, the minister warned that their implementation will take a significant amount of time — about three to four years.
Despite the difficult situation, Karadzhov assured that efforts are being made to improve railway transport. However, the question remains open — to what extent will these measures be sufficient to stop the deepening crisis and guarantee the reliability of one of the country's most important public services.