In Brief

 

BDZ adopts 2007 tariff policy

On 3rd November, the Board of Directors of BDZ EAD discussed and adopted the freight tariff policy of the company for 2007. The commercial policy envisages restrictive measures aiming at the acceleration of the freight-wagon turnover to compensate for its insufficient fleet of freight wagons. The envisaged acceleration of freight-wagon turnover by half a day will enable the company to operate about 200 freight wagons more per day in order to cover the projected freight volumes of 21 million tons. The tariff policy envisages promotional conditions for customers who turn round quickly the wagons provided to them, and who disburse their liabilities to the national railway carrier on time. There will be favourable conditions as well for those freight customers who make use of such optimised transport technologies as transit combined services, block-trains and logistic schemes under which the wagons run full in both directions.

 

The reconstruction of Zimnitsa station

The Minister of Transport, Petar Mutafchiev, attended the official opening of the reconstructed premises at Zimnitsa station. NRIC is the Employer under this project, and the Contractor is Gigastroi Ltd. The facade of the building has been re-painted and part of the old wooden joinery has been replaced by new aluminium; the passenger waiting-room, staff premises, lobbies and access areas have been thoroughly overhauled and a new WC facility has been built inside the building. The total cost of reconstruction works amounts to BGN119 770.

 

Proposed modernisation of 2 000 freight wagons

The Economic Policy Council has proposed to the Government the allocation of a credit of BGN70 million, guaranteed by the state, for the modernisation of over two thousand BDZ freight wagons. It is envisaged that through the modernisation of these wagons the company’s competitiveness will be enhanced and BDZ will be in a position to transport the production of the largest companies figuring in the national economy. A report of the Transport Minister, Petar Mutafchiev, states that some of BDZ’s largest customers envisage a 30% growth in their transport needs by 2007, which in itself means that BDZ will need 8 550 wagons instead of the present 7 000.

 

Rousse demands a new position in the railway sphere

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Transport, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Transport and the Management of NRIC, the Mayor of Rousse, Bozhidar Yotov, and the Chairman of the Municipal Council, Iskren Vesselinov, asked that the city re-establish its leading position in the railway sphere, instead of surrendering them to Gorna Oryahovitsa and Varna. The request is supported by the fact that Rousse is a logistic centre of key importance, where all transport modes meet, and furthermore Rousse is among the largest railway junctions in the country.

 

Railway Transport Act amendments adopted

The National Assembly adopted at second reading some amendments to the Railway Transport Act. According to the new provisions, international railway groups, whose members do not include Bulgarian operators, will have the right to transit operations along our national railway infrastructure in the cases when these transports are between EU member-countries. These operators must be licensed. According to Art. 14, the Transport Minister shall issue regulations concerning the safety management actions in the sphere of railway transport, the conditions for infrastructure utilisation and access to it. According to Art. 2, coordination and control functions in the railway transport sector shall be performed by the Executive Agency “Railway Administration”, which is the regulatory body. According to Art. 9, NRIC shall elaborate on an annual basis a report on the up-to-date condition of the railway infrastructure. When an infrastructure facility is concessioned, the concessionaire shall provide to NRIC the relevant information and NRIC itself shall provide to the operators and to the EA “Railway Administration” information on infrastructure condition.

 

Minister Mutafchiev at Verona forum

The Minister of Transport, Petar Mutafchiev, took part in the informal meeting of transport ministers of EU member and affiliated countries, held on 3rd-4th November in Verona. The subject pf the forum was “Innovative methods in road safety”.

 

Four tank-wagons derailed

Four tank-wagons, carrying carbon bisulphate, derailed at midnight on 4th November in the Rousse marshalling yard. The accident caused no damage or leakage. The reasons for the accident were technical.

 

A factory in Svishtov concluded a contract with Terna

The factory, producing reinforced concrete constructions and products in Svishtov, concluded a contract with the Greek company Terna for the delivery of 100 000 sleepers for the reconstruction of the first section on the Plovdiv-Svilengrad railway line. The factory has recently concluded another contract with the German corporation Vossloh, which is among the world leaders in the production of clamping elements for railway sleepers and employs state-of-the-art technologies for sleeper production.

 

MSSC “Transport” meeting

On 9th November in the Ministry of Transport was held the twelfth regular meeting of the Monitoring Sector Sub-Committee (MSSC) for the Transport sector under PHARE. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Delegation of the European Commission, the National fund and the National Aid Coordinator, as well as the executive agencies for maritime, railway and road administrations and the Fund “Republican road infrastructure”. The participants in the meeting discussed the progress in the implementation of the 19 projects in the sector, 13 of which are investment projects for the improvement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the basic transport infrastructure.

 

The High Transport School expands its international contacts

The traditional autumn scientific conference, conducted by the High Transport School “Todor Kableshkov” for the sixteenth year running, included large international representation.

 

In his address to the participants in the conference, the Deputy Minister of Eductions, Vanya Dobreva, highlighted the fact that the High Transport School is a unique transport insitute not only for Bulgaria, but for the whole region of South-Eastern Europe. This school teaches critical thinking and excellent knowledge in the sphere of railway transport, thus making its graduates welcome on the EU market.

 

New train timetable

BDZ EAD presented to NRIC its requirements for the new train timetable, which will enter into force as of 10th December 2006. The national railway carrier has requested paths for 610 passenger trains of all categories per day, including 26 international trains (14 daily and 12 seasonal), 15 express trains (14 daily and 1 seasonal), 75 fast trains and 494 regional trains. It is expected that in 2007 BDZ will transport 35 million passengers. The new train timetable envisages the daily operation of 413 freight trains. Business projections show that in 2007 the company will transport over 21 million tons of freight.

 

Plovdiv-Svilengrad line - ready by 2010?

The Government approved the draft agreements between Bulgaria and the European Investment Bank, which confirm the validity of financial contracts with the EIB, concluded in 1999 and 2001 (for the total price of EUR150 million), while the conditions for the utilisation of the credit will be updated. The project envisages that the modernisation of the Plovdiv-Svliengrad railway line will be completed by 2010 and for this reason the deadline for the remittance of tranches under the EIB will be extended till 30th June 2010.

 

Discussion on the development of Corridor VIII

A discussion on the development of International Transport Corridor VIII was held on 7th November in the Albanian Embassy in Sofia. Participants in the round-table talks were the Minister of Transport, Petar Mutafchiev, representatives of all the countries located along the Corridor, representatives of the European Commission and observers and representatives of the funding institutions. The main topic for discussion was the synchronisation of the efforts made by all relevant parties, for the implementation of the project. In this context, the participants discussed the relevancy of appointing a high-level European Coordinator for Corridor VIII, the need for a progress review of the project to date and the identification of technical and economic hindrances, the necessary establishment of regional associations to support the Corridor construction, as well as the elaboration of proposals to be considered by the relevant countries.

 

Proposal for a railway connection to Strumitsa

On the occasion of the jubilee of the construction of the General Todorov-Petrich railway line section, a group of veterans who had taken part in the construction works launched the idea for the construction of a railway connection between Petrich and Strumitsa (on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia). According to the Parliamentary deputy from this region, Boris Yachev, the construction of this line via Zlatarevo, is supported by the Macedonian side as well and can be implemented through European funds.

 

New Director of EA “RA”

On 15th November, Simeon Ananiev was appointed as Director of the “Railway Administration” Executive Agency (EA “RA”). Hitherto he has been a lecturer in the Todor Kableshkov Transport High School and has been working on his Ph.D. thesis. In the period 1981-1988, he worked in the Sofia Railway region – and in 1989 in the Sofia Regional Railway Division.

 

Information day for Danube Bridge 2

On 16th November, the Ministry of Transport organized an information day, on which it presented the progress of the EU ISPA programme implementation. The main objective of this initiative was to present to the general public the progress in the implementation of the project for the Danube Bridge 2. Reports were presented by the Deputy Minister of Transport, Vessela Gospodinova, the Governor of Vidin Region, Krastio Spassov, the Head of the PIMU of the Danube Bridge 2, Simeon Evtimov, the Project Manager for “The study of cross-border measures for Danube region development”, Richard Crofts, etc.

 

City railway in Sofia?

Sofia Municipality intends to include railways in the new transport scheme of the capital city, which should redistribute traffic more adequately and make public transport much more attractive. The first railway line which the Mayor’s office would like to include in public transport is the line between Obelia residential area and Iskar station. The line is 23 km long and there will be 25 stops along it. The concept of a public railway service between Iztok residential area and Pioner station is also being considered.

 

New managers for NRIC and the state-owned company “TCR”

On 1st November, by order of the Minister of Transport, Petar Mutafchiev, Anton Ginev was appointed Director General of NRIC. Hitherto, he was Director of the state-owned company “Transport construction and reconstruction” and he replaces Dimitar Gaidarov, who has submitted a request for dismissal. Vesselin Kozhuharov, who was Deputy Director General of NRIC, has now been named Director of the state-owned company “Transport construction and reconstruction”.

 

Dimitrovgrad became common border station

The official opening of the common Bulgarian – Serbian border station Dimitrovgrad was held on 4th December. The ceremony was attended by the Bulgarian Minister of transport, Petar Mutafchiev, and his Serbian counterpart, Velimir Ilic. In result of the establishment of a common border station, the duration of border controls of freight trains will be reduced to 140 minutes and of passenger trains – to 30 minutes. The total price of the project amounts to about EUR 5 million.