BDZ Central Station Repair Causes Major Delays: Passengers Stranded as Trains Run Late

A few days ago BDZ announced that they were starting to repair the Central Station in Sofia, and this, as many expected, would cause problems.

Trains are running with long delays this Saturday. This left passengers at several stations waiting for hours before they could travel to another town or city on the first day of the weekend.

One of the trains from Varna was 130 minutes late. The train from Sofia to Plovdiv, which should have arrived at 15:05, was 166 minutes late. On the other hand, passenger train 10114 departing at 16:05 from Plovdiv to Sofia was announced 111 minutes late. And yesterday, viewers criticized bTV for a “horrendous delay” of more than 150 minutes.

This morning, the acting Minister of Transport and Communications, Georgi Gvozdeikov, admitted in his interview that the repairs had caused problems in the movement of trains to the north of Bulgaria. He called for an urgent reorganization of the traffic and additional teams at the station to help passengers. Yesterday, in a meeting with BDZ and NKŽI, the minister ordered that all the problems be removed by Monday at the latest and that traffic be changed to a normal system .

The two companies explained that all options are currently being considered to change the timetable so that passengers are not left without transport despite the restrictions due to repairs.

The Central Station upgrade project spans tracks 6 to 12 and includes track renewal, subway upgrades and passenger concourses. Construction is planned for a period of 15 months.

As a result of repairing tracks at the central station in Sofia, the trains travel to Sever station. Passengers from southern Bulgaria can use the first, second and third platforms of the station, while those from northern Bulgaria will be able to get off at Sofia-Sever, Poduyane and Zaharna Fabrika stations.

The movement of trains from Sofia to Northern Bulgaria will be further changed from Monday, May 13. With an altered combination and altered route, several trains will run to the north.