site.btaEU-Backed Intermodal Terminal Project in Ruse Tops BGN 117 Mln

The Ministry of Transport and Communications approved EU funding for the construction of an intermodal terminal in Ruse, the ministry’s press service said here Tuesday.

The project is worth nearly BGN 117 million, with more than BGN 97 million in non-repayable funding from the European Regional Development Fund under the Transport Connectivity Programme 2021-2027.

The intermodal terminal will be built on the site of the closed Ruse East Marshalling Yard. The project includes building a new railway station with seven tracks, restoring the rail link to the Danube Bridge, and creating new road access from the city’s Northern Industrial Zone.

The terminal will include administrative buildings, a loading and unloading area, a customs post, warehousing space, car parks and landscaped areas.

“With the third bridge over the Danube, which will also be near Ruse, and with the construction of the intermodal terminal, the city is establishing itself as a key transport hub for northeastern Bulgaria. Combined with the modernization and increased capacity of the Ruse-Varna railway line, this will provide the most direct rail connection for freight flows from the East and the Black Sea region along the Danube to western and central Europe,” Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov said.

The National Railway Infrastructure Company is expected to launch a public procurement procedure for the design and construction of the intermodal terminal in January 2026. Once completed, operation of the facility will be awarded to a private operator.

Modernizing rail infrastructure and building an intermodal terminal in Ruse were among the main topics at the eighth meeting of the Monitoring Committee for the Transport Connectivity Programme 2021-2027.

In March 2025, the Council of Ministers approved changes to the programme, including completing traction substations in Ruse, Razgrad and Varna, plus adding a project to buy passenger electric multiple units.

In May 2025, Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov said the government allocated BGN 238 million to unblock stalled railway works, including modernization of traction substations in Varna (on the Black Sea), Ruse (on the Danube) and Razgrad (Northeastern Bulgaria), alongside key rail sections.

In late November 2025 an addendum for five additional electric multiple units was financed under the Transport Connectivity Programme 2021–2027, with planned service on routes including Ruse-Varna.

In December 2025, Karadjov proposed adding the Ruse-Gorna Oryahovitsa section to an EU funding list for 2028–2034, describing it as strategic for connectivity.