Bulgaria's BDZ Halts Montana-Berkovitsa Train Services over Vandalism

The Bulgarian Railways Company (BDZ) has temporarily suspended passenger services between the towns of Montana and Berkovitsa after trains travelling in the section had some of their windows smashed by stones hurled at the rolling stock.

The state-owned company said in a statement on Tuesday that there had been eight known cases of stones being thrown at its trains servicing the Montana-Berkovitsa railway section between 28 December and 2 January.

BDZ didn't say who the perpetrators had been or whether police had opened a criminal probe.

Faced with those cases of vandalism, which threaten the security of railway travel and put at risk the lives and health of BDZ passengers and company staff, BDZ has decided to temporarily suspend railway passenger services between Montana and Berkovitsa, in northwestern Bulgaria.

BDZ has provided buses to carry its passengers between Montana and Berkovitsa. Train services would resume "after the situation in the region calmed down", BDZ said without elaborating.