Last week we sent requests to all rolling stock manufacturers in Europe about their ability to deliver new trains for BDZ in the shortest possible time. This was announced by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov during his participation in ‘Hello, Bulgaria’ on Nova TV.
‘The rolling stock that will be delivered under the Plan for Recovery and Resilience in 2026 covers 50% of BDZ's needs, and we need to secure the remaining 50% and this should start in the short term,’ Minister Gvozdeykov stressed. He added that the market survey will show whether companies have railcars in stock, and whether they plan production by the end of the current calendar year. The request specifies the basic characteristics that rolling stock must meet to be compatible with the Bulgarian rail network. ‘The goal is to have new generation trains that the state can acquire in an urgent manner even before the delivery under the PRR,’ Gvozdeykov further explained.
About the incident with abandoned passengers at Stara Zagora railway station, the Minister pointed out that this is another unacceptable case, which shows the state to which the railway transport has been brought in recent decades.
Once again Europe shows us that we cannot cope with the management and control of large projects, the Minister said on the occasion of the announced investigation of two railway projects by the European Prosecutor's Office. ‘In recent years billions of euros have been invested in the railway infrastructure and there are no results and this is already clearly visible for Europe’, Gvozdeykov was adamant.
Georgi Gvozdeykov also commented on the increasing cases of cancelled or delayed flights of various airlines. ‘I have directed the CAA to exercise strict control and where there are violations and passenger rules are not followed, appropriate penalties under the Civil Aviation Act should be imposed,’ the transport minister further said. In his words, although European regulations give the national supervisory authority the power to impose sanctions, the CAA has not imposed any such fine so far. ‘So far there has been no will to punish the violators, but these practices have been stopped and the first sanctions are already being prepared,’ the Minister assured.