New railway border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey - a key infrastructure initiative to improve cross-border transport

During a meeting between Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelezkov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Grozdан Karadjov, and Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, issues related to bilateral cooperation in the field of transport were discussed. A key topic of the discussion was the development of the second railway border crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey along the Yambol - Elhovo - Lesovo - Turkish border - Edirne line.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Karadjov, Bulgaria has already undertaken preparatory activities for this project, including the development of implementation plans, analysis of the current situation, traffic forecasts, and capacity assessment. The two countries are united that the construction of the new railway line and border crossing will ease the traffic through one of the busiest border crossings in Europe - Svilengrad - Kapıkule. Optimizing border procedures will reduce train waiting times, improving the competitiveness of rail transport compared to road transport.

The efforts to realize this project are in line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2023 between Bulgaria and Turkey on cooperation in railway transport. The two countries are adamant that the pace of work on the construction of the new railway border crossing should be accelerated.