GREECE, Bulgaria and Romania will request funding for a joint project to upgrade the Thessaloniki - Sofia - Bucharest line, according to Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister and minister of transport and communications, Grozdan Karadzhov.
The announcement was made during the first working meeting between Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and the European Commission (EC) to discuss the Black Sea - Aegean Sea corridor, hosted by Karadzhov on January 30. This followed the singing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) by the three countries last December.
The meeting was attended by Greece's deputy minister of infrastructure and transport, Konstantinos Kiranakis, Romania's state secretary for infrastructure and transport, Ionut Cristian Savoiu, and Mario Mauro, appointed last year by the EC as coordinator for the Baltic Sea - Black Sea - Aegean Sea TEN-T Corridor.
Also present were Oana Gherghinescu, executive director of the European Railway Agency (ERA), Robert de Groot, vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
At the meeting, Eric von Breska, director of investment, innovate and sustainable transport at the EC’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move), said that trilateral projects ready for implementation by 2030 could receive funding under the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) if joint proposals are submitted by mid-September.
Priority projects
According to Karadzhov, the rail crossing over the River Danube between Ruse in Bulgaria and Giurgiu in Romania is Bulgaria's top priority, as it is of crucial importance to the entire corridor. As the project to build a new bridge moves beyond preliminary studies and preparations are made for construction, while repairs to the existing bridge are due to be completed by June.
Design work for electrifying the 11km from Ruse to the middle of the bridge should also be completed by June, with a contractor selected before the end of this year. “Electric traction can reduce freight transport costs by about 30% just by electrifying this small section,” Karadzhov said.
Bulgaria also attaches high importance to the construction of new bridges between Bulgaria and Romania, crossing the Danube between Nikopol and Turnu Măgurele, and between Silistra and Călărași. According to Karadzhov, “preliminary design studies for the two bridges must begin as soon as possible.”
During the meeting, the importance of the Svilengrad - Plovdiv - Stara Zagora - Ruse line with a new tunnel through the Stara Planina mountain range was also highlighted. The objective is to create a unified, uninterrupted corridor with harmonised standards and operational compatibility between the three countries, according to the Bulgarian transport ministry.
"After a 10-year hiatus, we are restoring a regular rail service between Sofia and Thessaloniki next year," Karadzhov says.
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