The Railway Law if 1884 emphasizes on the importance of the construction of two main railway lines, connecting the capital of the country with the major sea-ports of Varna and Bourgas, and another main line, perpendicular to the first two lines, which will play the role of a ‘bridge’ between the Danube river (the port of Rousse) and Southern Bulgaria. The political changes after 1944 laid their mark upon the development of the railways and the ports, the activity of which became dependent on the pro-Soviet-Union orientation of our country and the inclusion of Bulgaria in the structure of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). The rapid growth of the industrial sectors such as ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, the heavy-chemical industry and energy at a hitherto unseen scale was related to the import of enormous quantities of raw materials, ores, coal and concentrates, the processing and transport of which was undertaken mainly by the ports and the railways. Over a long period of time, almost by 1985, when this traffic flow started to decrease, the capacity of the infrastructure (railway network and ports), of the operator BDZ and the port operators was fully utilised. This operational comfort played havoc with the modernisation and technological renovation of the tracks, the locomotive and wagon fleet, the dock and inland equipment of the railways and ports. At the same time that new logistical solutions for freight handling and transport were being introduced in the USA, Japan and Western Europe, when the emphasis was laid upon intermodal transport, containerization, enlargement of freight units in addition to the introduction of modern technical means based on the achievements of automatics, robotics and computer sciences, Bulgarian railways and ports remained outside the governmental field of vision.Thus the unique chance was missed to develop and promote the Rousse-Varna route and to launch combined transport in our country, involving river and sea transport, the Danube and Black Sea ports and the railways.Nevertheless, in the same period a modern transport facility was constructed - the ferryboat complex in Beloslav, in the Varna region. The ferry link Varna- Ilichevsk (the Ukraine), which has been in operation for over 20 years and the ferry link to Poti (in Georgia), which has been in operation for seven years, show how successful the cooperation between railways and ports could be. The prospects for such co-operation will increase manifold if the European Union considers the Euro-Asian transport corridor (TRACECA) as a realistic option for the exchange of goods and raw materials with the countries from the Caucasian region and the ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia.The present state of railways and ports gives many reasons for serious concern due to the incomplete reconstruction and modernisation of hundreds of kilometres of railway lines as a result of which train compositions run at an average speed similar to that of steam locomotives; the long-postponed renovation of the locomotive and wagon fleets and the introduction of modern transport technologies, which has also been cancelled while waiting for better times. The situation with the ports is similar. The analysis shows that the port of Varna handles about 14% of containerized cargo generated in the region, while the port of Bourgas accounts for only 3%. On the other extremity is the port of Konstanca, which holds 44% of the market share in the Black Sea. The growth of this Romanian port in the last years was 141% and it exceeds by many times the development of Varna and Bourgas taken together. This impressive difference is due to two main factors: the Romanian government has invested heavily in port infrastructure and in the last few years the terminal facilities were offered for concession. In our country in the last 15 years not only were there no investments in this sphere, but the very process of concession offering was much delayed.Still, provided that in the future the concession process gets started successfully and provided that significant investments are made, our ports could be modernized. Through grant funds from ISPA and EU Cohesion funds, the railway infrastructure could also be upgraded. When we become members of the united European ‘family’, the Bulgarian ports and railways will encounter the major issue as to whether they are ready for a quick and smooth inclusion into the system of European railways and ports so that they contribute to the transfer of goods and passengers and be competitive.