The route speeds for passenger services in Bulgaria are too low. The highest were implemented in 1988 and subsequently they have tended to decline and their levels still decline significantly along the Sofia-Plovdiv, Sofia-Vidin, Sofia-Plovdiv-Burgas routes. During the last ten years, the main reason for this has been the delays in railway line repair and maintenance works, as well as the lack of rolling stock renewal.

The long distances to Central and Eastern European countries make road transport even more expensive and Bulgarian exports less competitive. Therefore, railways will become the essential transport mode for freight services between Bulgaria and the EU. This necessity will be further imposed by restrictions to road traffic in member countries. Even if our country has sufficient road capacity, allowing for the continuing increase in road traffic, then the road capacity of our commercial partners - the European countries - is almost fully-exhausted.

The question is what speeds do we need to make railway transport efficient and competitive in the market-place? Calculations show that the new technical norms adopted in our country for maximum speeds along the major railway lines of 160-200 km/h are sufficient, especially if their average values (170-180 km/h) are the target, to make passenger services by rail really competitive. The best-practice examples show that speeds of 170-180 km/h can be achieved mainly by reconstruction and upgrading of the existing railway lines, as well as by the commissioning of tilting passenger trains, which are particularly efficient on line sections with curves. This would imply much less capital investment costs in comparison with the costs for the construction of new high-speed lines. Furthermore, maximum speeds of this order allow the smooth mixed operation of both passenger and freight services, which is an important advantage in the cases where traffic is low. The choice of such speeds complies with the maximum speeds, adopted by the railway administrations in our neighbouring countries.

The tendency for decline in the maximum admissible speeds since 1988 is rather unfavourable and it clearly manifests the deteriorated technical condition of the permanent way, particularly on the secondary lines. The accumulated data show that the share of railway lines for speeds lower than 60 km/h grows steadily and, in comparison with the situation in 1988, this share has increased by 12.4 points. Furthermore, if in 1988 on only 2.7% of the overall length of secondary railway lines the admissible speed was 40 km/h, then at the present moment the same speed, and along certain line sections even lower, is characteristic of 4.3% of the overall length of the main lines and 26.6% of the secondary lines, i.e. 91.1% of the overall length of permanent way in our country. At the same time, the share of railway lines for speeds of over 100 km/h drops (by 9.2 points in comparison with 1988). The maximum admissible speed now is 130 km/h and this is characteristic of only 8.1% of the construction length of the main lines (in 1988 this speed was admissible on 11.2% of the main lines).

Boosting speeds up along the main railway lines to 160-180 km/h, even for a short period of time, is a technically and economically impossible task. Therefore, such a task should be considered as a priority and implemented step-by-step. The Sofia-Plovdiv-Burgas route calls most urgently for an increase in traffic speeds.

The territory of the country, the mixed traffic and the need to comply with the adopted speeds in the neighbouring countries make it necessary to adopt maximum speeds of 170-180 km/h. This could be achieved by means of reconstruction and upgrading of the existing railway lines much less expensively in comparison with the costs for new construction.