Bulgaria Completes Overhaul of Railway to Border with Greece, Turkey

A railroad connecting Bulgaria's second-biggest city Plovdiv with the Greek and Turkish borders is now completely modernized, Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski said on Sunday.

Under a project using EU funding, several sections of the railway have been fully overhauled to meet present-day standards, with Moskovski and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov taking a ride from the southern Bulgarian town of Lyubimets (whose train station has also been upgraded) to the border town of Svilengrad, located immediately next to the point where the borders of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece meet.

After the event Borisov published on Facebook pictures of him driving along the 38-km track, at a speed said to be 205 kmh.

"Today we are launching the train which reaches 226 kmh and has an average speed of 170 kmh. You will see that in about two years we will go to the sea or to Istanbul with high-speed Wi-Fi in our compartments, but to this end we will have to raise more money for new locomotives," daily 24 Chasa quotes him as saying.

The Transport Ministry earlier said the railroad modernization project between Plovdiv and Svilengrad had cost BGN 424 M and had been carried out under Operation Program Transport for the 2007-2013 period.

Railway infrastructure will now have to be improved between the capital Sofia and the border with Serbia, Moskovski added.

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