By May 2027, Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) will have 60 new trains in total — Skoda and Alstom units bought under the Transport Connectivity Programme and the recovery and resilience plan. Deputy transport minister Tsveta Timeva said this during a demonstration ride from Plovdiv to Septemvri on one of the new Skoda trains. Jordanka Chobanova, who heads the European Commission's office in Bulgaria, also took part in the trip.
The new train covered the 53.5km stretch in 25 minutes, running at 160km/h. The old trains used to take 40 minutes at just 80km/h.
The new trains have more than 300 seats, plus wifi, cameras and full safety systems, Timeva said. She asked passengers to look after the trains, though, as the ministry gets a lot of reports of vandalism. She said tougher penalties for people who damage them are now being considered.
"Along with rebuilding the tracks, we also want to replace the carriages, because right now trains from the 1960s and 1970s are still running on these lines," the deputy minister explained.
Chobanova said that over Bulgaria's 20 years in the EU, more than 370km of the country's rail network has been renewed. She called the Plovdiv-Septemvri line a good example, bringing together a rebuilt and upgraded railway, new trains, safety systems and renovated stations. "We have a mix of EU funding here — the Transport Connectivity Programme, the recovery and resilience plan and the Social Climate Fund," Chobanova said.