site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian, Turkish Transport Ministers Discuss Intermodal Solutions, New Rail Link between their Countries

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Transport and Communications Minister Hristo Aleksiev held a meeting with Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu at the Kapikule Checkpoint (on Tukiye's border with Bulgaria) on Tuesday.

"My Turkish counterpart and I discussed matters concerning the border crossings between the two countries and how to relieve cross-border traffic. We found that the joint work done so far is quite satisfactory," Aleksiev said, emerging from the session.

He specified that Bulgaria and Turkiye have taken "very serious measures" to ease heavy-duty truck traffic across their common border. While these efforts will continue, the two concurred that much more serious work is needed to develop alternatives in moving goods by rail and water. The target is to increase intermodal train services from 7 to 22, the Bulgarian official pointed out.

The Deputy PM said that the trucks that cleared customs at Kapitan Andreevo and Lesovo for the January-October 2022 period were by over 100,000 more than for the same period of 2021. This traffic is expected to surge even further.

"That is why we discussed road-rail intermodal solutions so as to relieve road use," he specified, adding that such a mechanism is already in place and it can cover a larger volume of transport operations. "We have already made significant progress in this area: between 60,000 and 70,000 trucks have been transported by train from the terminal in Plovdiv to Turkey since the beginning of this year," the Bulgarian Minister said.

"We agreed on starting work on a new rail link between the two countries which, in Bulgarian territory, will run from Lesovo via Elhovo to Yambol," Aleksiev went on to say. He noted that the existing rail transport is operating almost to capacity and new options have to be explored.

Accelerating the procedure for Ro-Ro transport and launching a cross-Black-Sea ferry link between Burgas and Karasu were also on the agenda. Two new lanes for refrigerator trucks will be opened at Kapitan Andreevo within a couple of months and they, too, will help ease the traffic, the Bulgarian Minister pointed out.

The Turkish side repeatedly thanked the Bulgarian officials for the efforts made and the tangible results in facilitating traffic across the border checkpoints in recent months.

The last time that Bulgarian and Turkish transport ministers conferred on the same range of issues was in Svilengrad (Southeastern Bulgaria) on February 17, 2022, when Nikolay Sabev met with Karaismailoglu.