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Mobility and Transport

The Trans-European Corridors that run through Bulgaria are:

  • The Orient / East - Med corridor, from the Romanian border to the Greek border, via Sofia. An eastbound branch goes towards the port of Burgas and the Turkish border.
  • The Rhine - Danube corridor, going along the Romanian border (the River Danube). However, there are no railway lines included in the Rhine-Danube corridor in Bulgaria.

Infrastructure Managers

The NRIC (National Railway Infrastructure Company) was established in 2002 according to EU regulations. It is in charge of the Bulgarian railway infrastructure, running a network. This network has a part which belongs to the Orient / East - Med corridor and is approximately 1,100 km in length.

Information regarding the Bulgarian network and its features can be found at:

National implementation plan

The Bulgarian National Implementation Plan (NIP) was delivered in 2021. It is partially compliant with the ERTMS European Deployment Plan, because it includes some dates that are beyond EDP target dates. The NIP also includes deployment plans for sections that do not belong to Core Network Corridors.

According to the Bulgaria NIP:

  • The network will have mixed ERTMS levels in the trackside; some lines will be equipped with ERTMS Level 1 (such as the Vidin-Sofia line) and others with ERTMS Level 2, such as the Sofia-Zimnitsa line. However, the Onboard equipment is planned to be ERTMS Level 2.
  • Once Sofia – Plovdi – Stara Zagora line is equipped with ETCS in 2029, no line in Bulgaria will be equipped with the existing Class B system.

National Implementation Plans (NIP) country by country

National Safety Authority

The Railway Administration Executive Agency acts as a regulatory body for Bulgarian railway transport. It is the NSA for railway transport in the Bulgarian Republic.