site.btaTransport Minister: Almost Half of BDZ Rolling Stock Out of Service

No investments have been made in the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) in the past 30 years and the rail carrier was deliberately pushed to bankruptcy, Transport Minister Nikolay Sabev said here on Thursday, speaking at a round table on new prospects for the development of rail transport. 

Sabev said that 45 per cent of BDZ's rolling stock is out of service and still not included in the schedule of repair works. In his words, BDZ is in "actual bankruptcy and is maintained only on the strength of the subsidy it receives". Furthermore, BDZ lacks a system for management of the rolling stock and of the physical assets of the company, along with a mechanism to guarantee the quality of the service. 

Sabev said that the government plans to invest in the digitalization, cleanliness and personnel of the BDZ. The reform programme for the company envisages that it returns to profit in 2023. In his words, the effectiveness of the measures that are implemented will be measured every three months. 

Dwelling on the cargo rail transport, Sabev said that in 2021 more than 98 per cent of the coal carried between Varna, on the Black Sea, and Rousse, on the Danube, was carried by road. 

During a TV broadcast in mid-February, Sabev said that BDZ was entering its Renaissance period, with the first positive results to be seen in between six and twelve months. The Minister has been behind two changes of the management of the BDZ holding.