Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

Starting today, November 8, European rail corridor for competitive freight № 7 "Orient" Prague - Vienna / Bratislava - Budapest - Bucharest - Constanta - Vidin - Sofia - Thessaloniki - Athens was put in operation.

Rail corridor "Orient" is part of the European network for competitive freight on which freight trains can move in good conditions and can pass from one national network to another without administrative obstacles. It is created in collaboration of 7 European countries - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. The aim is to build a link between Central and Eastern Europe, as well as a link towards Asia through Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, which provides a reliable service on the basis of harmonized technical and procedural conditions.

The start of operation of the rail freight corridor № 7 was given with the launch of a special software on the first prearranged route, which is between Prague (Czech Republic) and Curtici (Romania). It will be operated by the company "Prvá Slovenská Zelezničná".

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of various institutions who played an important role in the creation and implementation of the corridor. Bulgaria was represented by experts from the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications and the National Company "Railway Infrastructure".