BULGARIA: The Ministry of Transport & Communications has begun public consultation on its draft framework for the competitive award of contracts for the operation of passenger rail services.
The proposal, designed in line with EU requirements, envisages dividing the network into Western, Northern and Southern regions with depots in Sofia, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Plovdiv. The regions would be tendered separately, with each contract including a range of services from main line to local trains.
The procurement process is scheduled to be launched by the end of July. Bids would be submitted by October 30, and the public service obligation contracts are expected to be signed by the end of 2025. Following a mobilisation period, the contracts would run for 12 years from the December 13 2026 timetable change.
The operators would be required to co-ordinate servces under a national timetable to be prepared by the state in consultation with local authorities. They would also be required to ensure compatibility between their ticketing systems.
Service requirements would be updated annually. Traffic volumes are expected to be affected by a preducted 12% reduction in the population between 2020 and 2040, when around half the population is expected to be living in the five largest urban areas.
The contractors would use their own and/or leased rolling stock, with state-owned rolling stock allocated to the opetrators in proportion to service volumes. A separate company would be established to take over repair activities currently handled by national operator BDZ, and this would provide maintenance and repair services to all operators on equal terms. On the expiry of the operating contracts, the operators would be required to return the state-owned rolling stock in the condition in which it was received.
The ministry told trade unions that existing railway staff would transfer to the new operators.