The Ministry of Transport has launched a public discussion on the award of passenger rail services.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is starting a broad public discussion on the conditions for awarding passenger rail transport services. A draft has been published, which provides for the division of the railway map of Bulgaria into three regions - western, northern and southern, with the secondary lines also included in each of them. The possibility will be provided for each of the regions to be served by the respective regional depot (Sofia, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Plovdiv).

According to the draft, the employment relationships with the workers and employees engaged in the current operator will not be terminated, but will be transferred to the new operators of the public rail service. The execution of the contracts will be carried out through own and/or hired rolling stock, as well as with that provided by the state to the selected contractors. The rolling stock provided by the state will be proportional to the volume of the service for the respective region.

The planned duration of the contracts is 12 years, with the starting date of implementation being December 13, 2026, when the 2027 Train Schedule comes into force. It is envisaged that the contracts will be concluded by December 31, 2025, and the period from their signing to the starting date of implementation is the mobilization period for the contractors.

Within one month, the Ministry of Transport and Communications will hold talks with all stakeholders, including trade union organizations, the non-governmental sector and others, for a detailed discussion of the conditions of the upcoming procedure. According to the set schedules, it will be announced by the end of July 2025.