Bulgarian Railway Company Plans to Invest BGN 71 Million to Improve Service

The 2019 business plan of Bulgaria's State Railway company (BDZ) sets the capital investment for improvement of the passenger service to reach the amount of more than BGN 71 million, the state railways said on 5th of March. BGN 65 million of the amount are planned to improve the condition of rolling stock, reports BNT. 

Data shows that the company will for the first time in 6 years make a net profit of nearly BGN 1 million.

The number of passengers transported remained for a third consecutive year at the level of about 21 million (the lowest for the past 10 years), with a slight increase of 184,000 passengers.

The capital programme in 2018 is lagging behind - out of more than BGN 46 million planned, a little more than BGN 8 million has been spent on repair work, which has led to well-known problems with the provision of the Train Traffic Schedule.

For 2019, capital investments amounted to more than BGN 71 million, of which BGN 65 million was only for the improvement of the state of rolling stock. This includes public procurement for the repair of 20 locomotives and capital repairs of another 30 locomotives, as well as the start of the repair of the diesel and electric trains "Siemens".

In 2019, the growth of the passengers is planned by 2.6% (545,000), which will lead to an increase of the direct sales revenues by almost BGN 2 million. The subsidy under the public service contract with the state remains the same amounting to BGN 175 million.