Two candidiates- BNB Printing Works AD and Demax AD took part an open procedure, announced by metropolitan EAD, for a choice for contractors that are to print tickets for the subway in the next two years in. Activities by the order are separated into two- for tickests that are sold at the cash register and for the so called roll tickests, with which automatic ticket machines are loaded. The companies are presently printing tickests in the subway, too. The present auction has a term of 2 years. Offer for tickest, sold at the cash registered, handed out by BNB Printing Works is to the amount of BGN 0.07 per per share excluding promotional items and BGN 0.011 with printed messages. Demax’s offer is to the amount of BGN 0.0098 for "pure" roller ticket and BGN 0.011 for such with an ad on it.
Source: Capital (11.01.2013)

Bulgaria's government has invested over BGN 17 M in an expansion of the depot of the Sofia Metro and its repair plant, Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski announced. Moskovski inspected Wednesday the depot and plant of the Sofia subway in the Obelya quarter of the Bulgarian capital together with Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and municipally-owned Sofia Metropolitan company CEO Stoyan Bratoev, the press service of the Transport Ministry reported. "Sofia's residents can be proud of this new facility because it meets all EU requirements and safety norms," Moskovski said, adding that over 300 000 people using the Sofia Metro daily can feel its benefits. "As part of the project [including the expansion of the depot] we also managed to build a 7 km metro line, to buy 18 new trains, and to modernize the existing depot of the Sofia Metropolitan," he elaborated, adding that the expansion was necessitated by the extension of the first metro line, and the launch of the second line in 2012. More specifically, the project included the construction of part of the second line of the Sofia Metro spanning 4.15 km with 4 metro stations – between the Obelya quarter and the Nadezhda quarter, as well as part of the first line – between the Mladost 1 quarter and the Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd spanning 2.2 km with 2 metro stations. The Bulgarian Transport Ministry reminded that it is now working on Phase III from the extension of the Sofia Metro, which includes the construction of two sections of Line 1 – from the Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd to Sofia International Airport (already started), and from the Mladost 1 quarter to Business Park Sofia. The Sofia Metro Phase III project was approved for funding by the European Commission at the end of 2012.
Source: Monitor (17.01.2013)

Metropoliten, the operator of the Sofia subway, said it picked two consortia, Metro Build Mladost and Geometro B.P., to build a 2.62-kilometre (km) section of the city's underground railway network. The subway section, located in the city's southern neighbourhood of Mladost, is divided into two lots. Metro Build Mladost has placed the lowest bid of 53.9 million levs ($36.4 million/27.6 million euro) for the first lot of the project (1,550 metre-long with two underground stations) and has received the maximum available points for its technical offer, state-owned Metropoliten said in a statement on its website. The tie-up competed for the lot with Turkish company Dogus Insaat Ve Ticaret and Bulgaria’s Stroyinject, which had offered to do the job for 57.9 million levs and 54.2 million levs, respectively. Geometro B.P. offered the lowest bid of 31.5 million levs for the second lot (1,070-metre long with one station and an underground car parking lot). The consortium competed with local company Adval and several other consortia - Porr Business Park, Metro Vitosha 2012, Metro Business Park and Galchev Asignia Pereda 4. Construction works are planned to be completed in 24 months. Sofia’s subway network is 31 km long and has 27 stations. Once completed, it will connect the nortwestern part of the city with a large business park in its southern outskirts.
Source: Capital (25.02.2013)

The Bulgarian outgoing government said on Friday it allocated 13.5 million levs for the expansion of the Sofia subway. The funding will be channelled into the construction of a section from the east-bound Tsarigradsko Shose boulevard to the Sofia airport and another one in the city's southern neighbourhood of Mladost, the outgoing government said in a statement, following a regular weekly meeting. Sofia’s subway network is 31 km long and has 27 stations. Once completed, it will connect the nortwestern part of the city with a large business park in its southern outskirts.
Source: econ.bg (04.03.2013)

Sofia Metro 3: EUR 680m cost for 16,000 passengers per day The cost of building a third metro line would be EUR 680 million and the Sofia municipality suggests that this sum should be co-financed from the Environment Operational Program (OP), Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova stated at the presentation of the study on the construction of a third metro in the Bulgarian capital. Around 170,000 people will use the metro by 2018 after the construction of the third line, the mayor said adding that the construction plans for the project are already prepared. As the subway is among the most environmentally friendly means of transport, the third metro line would be subject to funding under the Transport OP and other funds in the programming period. The length of the subway will be 16 km with 19 stations. Its projected passenger flow is estimated at 162 000 passengers per day. Only 53% of the new line, which will connect the southwestern and northeastern parts of Sofia, would be underground. The Sofia Metro will be the main priority of the Ministry of Transport, Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Daniel Papazov stated. The third stretch is expected to save the environment from 110 thousand tons greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020. While traffic will be reduced by 35%, the number of accidents would also fall by 25%.
Source: Standart (07.08.2013)

Sofia Subway Launches Free Wi-Fi Service Passengers on the subway in the Bulgarian capital Sofia will be able to talk on cell phones and surf the web, the Metropolitan company announced Monday. The services will be available on all subway lines, whether passengers are at a station or inside the train car in tunnels. The networks of the three telecom operators - Mtel, GLOBUL and VIVACOM provide speeds of up to 42 mbps for downloads and 5.76 mbps for uploads. This allows passengers to keep conversations on the phone; download or upload files from the internet, watch movies, listen to music, and play games in real time. The wireless network has the capacity to provide voice and data transfer services for all passengers in the subway, which currently transports an average of 450,000 people a day. Telecom services are available in all 23 subway stations and for all 36 km of railway lines
Source: Capital (22.10.2013)

Siemens is to develop its energy company in Pravets Number of employees in Siemens’s factory in Bulgaria had increased five times since the company started production before seven years. Though it is the least popular activity of the German concern in the country at present the enterprise that is located in the building of the ex-computer factory in Pravets has about 300 employees. This is little over half of all people that the company’s subsidiary in Bulgaria employs. The investment in production is slightly over EUR 2 million. The factory in Pravets operates in the energy sector and produces high voltage measuring equipment, as in the last year it has accomplished over 14 thousand units of output. These are not end-products but components that are exported to France and Germany and are used for Siemens’s products. Production is used in power plants, substations and high voltage power lines. Siemens began production in Bulgaria in 2006, when the factory for isolation of active high voltage parts was opened in Botevgrad with personnel of 60 workers. In 2011 the factory is moved in the ex-computer factory in Pravets.
Source: Capital (04.11.2013)

Ten new trains to run in the Sofia metro Ten new trains will run in the Sofia metro from next year and thus the intervals in peak hours will be shortened to two and a half minutes. The total number of trains, running in the Sofia metro will be 52. The trains were built by "Hitachi" and "Metrovagonmash" and feature new generation engines, which are 25% more energy efficient than the current ones. Each train can transport a little over 1000 passengers, has AC and is quieter and safer. The total price of the ten new trains is 40.95 million euro, provided by European programmes.
Source: Sega (12.12.2013)