Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov and the management of the Bulgarian State Railways are beginning urgent inspections of trains after the nightmarish journey of passengers on the Burgas - Sofia train. The minister announced the new measure in the program "The Day Begins" on BNT.
According to the decision taken by Karadjov, both the minister and the management of the railways will travel on 7 sections of the railway network in the country. The main problem is the wagons purchased second-hand from "Deutsche Bahn" last year, which have technical problems.
"First, I would like to apologize to the citizens who traveled in these conditions. The reason is the irresponsible behavior of previous management, who bought second-hand wagons from 'Deutsche Bahn', which are comfortable and in excellent condition, but their windows do not open," Karadjov said.
The minister emphasized that the air conditioners in the German wagons break down very often, and this problem has existed all last year. "The same hell happened at the moment they were put into operation and unfortunately, BDZ has not found a way to fix the problem yet," he added.
Since the railways cannot currently lose a single wagon, emergency measures are being introduced from today – the BDZ management and the minister are boarding the trains.
"These 10 people will travel on 7 sections of the country where these wagons are used. I will also be with them. They will be inside with engineers, electricians and will work when a problem arises until we find a technical explanation and solution," Karadjov explained.
The minister admitted that BDZ is in a crisis. "Currently, there is no budget for purchasing new trains, but even if there were, they would come in 3 years. This is a crisis that I am currently struggling with," he said.
Karadzhov announced that 60 multiple unit trains have been ordered, but the first ones will not arrive until the summer of next year, and the last ones - in the summer of 2027.
The new measures come after a series of complaints from passengers about the poor conditions on Bulgarian trains, including non-working air conditioners, dirt and technical problems.