Bulgarian Railways Go Wireless, Plan to Become Profitable

Free wireless will be provided at the five busiest train stations in Bulgaria, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications announced.

Minister Alexander Tsvetkov officially launched the new service at the train station of the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas on Friday.

The free Internet access will be enjoyed by more than 37 000 passengers every day going through the train stations of Sofia, Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, and Gorna Oryahovitsa.

“This is the first step towards the modernization of the railway. The second would be to provide free wireless in the trains,” Minister Tsvetkov said, adding that by the end of the year, free access will be provided in 15 more train stations in Bulgaria.

The Minister added that the modernization of the Bulgarian railway includes the rehabilitation of the railway tracks so that the trains can achieve a maximum speed of 160km/h.

All these measures are part of the Bulgarian railway operator BDZ's plan to become a successful company by 2014. For more than 20 years, Bulgarians have avoided traveling by trains because of their low quality.

On Thursday, Tsvetkov told the Bulgarian TV channel Pro.BG that saving BDZ from bankruptcy was the priority for his Ministry in the beginning of the cabinet's mandate.

“Now BDZ's revenue is increasing. Thanks to the measures we took up, its expenses have gone down by BGN 7 M,” Tsvetkov said, adding that private investors show a huge interest towards renovating the buildings at some train stations.

The Bulgarian National Company Railroad Infrastructure announced Monday it officially halted the public tender for the rehabilitation of the railroad between the cities of Plovdiv and Burgas.

On Friday, however, Minister Tsvetkov announced the tender will be repeated so that the submitted bid does not exceed the amount, stipulated by the Ministry of Transport.

Novinite.com