The Ministry of Transport proposes the entry of private railway carriers and foreign railway companies in our country from the end of next year. According to the relevant minister, this will increase competition and quality. However, the unions oppose the idea, reports bTV.
According to the idea, it is planned to divide the country into 3 regions - Western, Northern and Southern.
Currently, passengers are complaining about the quality of the service - trains are late, the compartments are dirty, and sometimes the conductors are rude. Their concern, however, is that the service will become more expensive.
The Minister of Transport assures that the price of services will remain the same and the transition from a state to a private operator will be smooth.
„In these regions, there will initially be only one operator, who will work through the so-called subsidy. That is, it will do what the state operator is doing now, but we hope better“, said Minister Karadjov.
According to the unions, however, greater competition will not be achieved and a small market like the Bulgarian one is not obliged to accept the European liberalization directive.
„There is no need to divide a small market, because it becomes less efficient. The fight here is for the subsidy. Nobody wants to come and drive and invest“, says Petar Bunev from the Confederation of Bulgarian Trade Unions.
Experts from the industry believe that first an analysis of transport in our country is needed.
“First, a study should be done on what kind of people live in the regions, how they travel. Then a transport scheme should be made linking rail and road transport“, says Simeon Ananiev, chairman of the “Green Transport“ cluster.