THE first of 20 three-car Inspiro trains for the initial phase of Sofia metro Line 3 was unveiled at the Newag plant in Nowy Sacz, Poland, on November 15.
ŠKODA Transportation announced on October 13 that it has received a Koruna 610m ($US 27.9m) contract to supply 13 ForCity Classic low-floor LRVs for the 1009mm-gauge tram network in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
BULGARIA’s Transport Ministry announced on November 7 that it has launched a project for the construction of a 23km double-track railway connecting its capital Sofia with the town of Ellin Pelin.
BULGARIA’s minister of transport, information technology and communications Mr Ivaylo Moskovski and Mr Stoyan Bratoev, managing director of Sofia metro operator Metropolitan, inaugurated the 1.3km southern extension of metro Line M2 from James Bourchier to Vitosha on July 20.
BULGARIA celebrated the completion of a 10-year project to modernise its principal rail link with Greece and Turkey on May 15, when prime minister Mr Boyko Borissov and minister of transport, information technology, and communications Mr Ivaylo Moskovski attended a ceremony marking the conclusion of the upgrading of the 154km Plovdiv – Dimitrovgrad – Kapikule (Turkish border) line.
THE European Commission (EC) has approved the allocation of €368m from the European Regional Development Fund to support construction of Sofia metro Line 3.
Funding and soft loans from European Union facilities and affiliated organisations promise to deliver long-awaited Eastern European rail infrastructure improvements over the next decade or so. Artur Perchel, manager, Central Eastern Europe & Israel at the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), assesses the impact.
METROPOLITAN EAD, which operates the two-line metro in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, has awarded Siemens and Newag, Poland, a €140m contract to supply trains and signalling for the first phase of the new Line 3, which is due to open in 2019.
A consortium of Siemens and Newag has submitted the lowest-price bid for a contract to supply 20 three-car trains together with automation for the initial phase of Sofia metro Line 3, which is due to open in 2019.
TEST operation was launched on the latest phase of the Sofia metro network at the end of February, when Bulgaria's transport minister Mr Ivailo Moskowsky, mayor of Sofia Mrs Jordanka Fandakova and the chairman of the city metropolitan council Mr Stoyan Bratoev inspected two extensions to Line 1 .
