Bulgaria’s Govt to Restore Halted Trains

Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski has assured that no more trains will be dropped from the schedule of the state-owned Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ).

Moskovski told journalists Friday that the state-owned railway carrier would be given back the sum of BGN 40 M it had been deprived of through a subsidy cut.

He said that the government would strive to receive notification by the European Commission for the state aid.

Moskovski made clear that the development of railway transport was a priority for the current government.

He specified that Bulgaria expected to receive a total of EUR 350 M under the Connecting Europe Facility for trackside construction and upgrade, adding that projects for intermodal terminals in Plovdiv and Ruse had been launched, as well as the construction of subway sections in Sofia.

Bulgaria’s Transport Minister announced that a plan for the restructuring and stabilization of Holding BDZ was being developed.

Moskovski, as cited by investor.bg, said that he had not given up on the sale of the freight unit of the company, BDZ Freight Services, adding that no candidate had shown up.

He pointed out that the company had run up debts of around BGN 109 M and had closed 2014 at a loss of around BGN 15 M.

Asked to comment on the reasons for stopping 38 trains on January 12, Moskovski declared that the measure had been necessitated by the subsidy cut by BGN 40 M, adding the subsidy of the state-owned railway company for 2014 had also been downsized by BGN 40 M, which had resulted in a failure to carry out repair works worth BGN 25 M and a loss of BGN 15 M by the end of the year.

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