BDZ companies will be merged into one national company The Bulgarian state railway companies BDZ Holding, BDZ Freight and BDZ Passenger Transport are merging into the national company BDZ. For this purpose, the trend of reducing costs and increasing revenues in the railway company in the first six months since the beginning of the reform has to be observed, said Transport Minister Nikolay Sabev. "From the beginning of 2024, we intend to cease asking the state for more money, because we are fulfilling the public transport contract and we will enter the capital markets in Europe," he was quoted as saying by Bulgaria ON AIR. The railways have been at a loss of BGN 421 million every year since 2002. Sabev hopes that revenues will increase by expanding the market share and costs will be managed much more efficiently. "The difference between the small number of goods transported by BDZ and the costs incurred has been repaid by selling the assets of the railway," the minister was quoted as saying by BTA. He is adamant that BDZ's assets will no longer be sold. "BDZ must develop in parallel with other freight carriers. In this regard, a large-scale transformation of transport services has begun," he said. The goal, he said, is for at least 72% of long-distance road transport to go by rail. That is why the EC will finance the modernization of the railway service in our country.
Source: investor.bg (07.02.2022)

BDZ reform starts without cost-benefit analysis The reform of BDZ, which envisions the current three companies merging into the Bulgarian State Railways National Company, has started without a cost-benefit analysis and without approval from the European Commission. BDZ Holding, BDZ Freight Services and BDZ Passenger Services must merge into one company by September. The number of staff will be optimized by eliminating duplicate administrative units. There will be investments in training and improvement of working conditions. The new company will have two accounts so that there is no hidden subsidy for liberalized rail freight. This was said by the Deputy Minister of Transport Iliya Iliev, who is responsible for the railways, before the deputies from the parliamentary committee on transport. They wanted to know more about the reform of state railways announced in early February by Transport Minister Nikolay Sabev. On Friday, the 5-year roadmap for the development of BDZ will be presented.
Source: mediapool.bg (18.02.2022)

The Minister of Transport Nikolay Sabev has signed a decision on the merger of BDZ-Passenger Transport and BDZ-Freight Transport into BDZ Holding. The new merger will be called "National Company Bulgarian State Railways" EAD. The aim of the restructuring is to improve the planning, management and control of the movement of passenger and freight trains, as well as to reduce administration and costs.
Source: offnews.bg (14.07.2022)

BDZ accelerates the repair of passenger cars On October 27, 2022, the managements of the railway company and "Vagonen Zavod - Intercom" AD (Dryanovo) signed Additional Agreement No. 2 to the Contract for the modernization of 15 passenger cars, concluded on April 22, 2021. The total value of the contract is BGN 26,697 million without VAT, which makes BGN 2,136 million per wagon together with the indirect tax. According to it, "Passenger Transport" pays BGN 6,941 million in advance, which is 26% of the agreed amount. In practice, more than a year and a half after signing the contract, BDZ-PP have not received anything. For which the wagon repair plant in Dryanovo is justified with force majeure occurred. With the additional agreement No. 2 to the Modernization Contract, a corrected timetable for the modernization of the wagons was adopted. According to him, the last modernized wagon should be handed over to "Passenger Transport" by the end of December 2023, and "at 100% readiness - after presentation of an operating permit for a speed of 160 km/h".
Source: Banker (11.11.2022)