site.btaMarch 19, 1984: Bulgaria's Electrified Railway Ring Goes into Service

Bulgaria's major electrified railway ring was completed and inaugurated on March 19, 1984. The 1,420 km long ring comprises the principal rail lines linking Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Burgas in the south and Varna, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Pleven in the north. Its construction optimized freight and passenger transport along the country's key arteries, which were now connected in a closed circuit under electric traction.

A rally marked the occasion in Gorna Oryahovitsa (North Central Bulgaria), where the country's first fully automated marshalling yard was built as part of the larger project. Senior state officials, managers of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) and numerous members of the public attended.

The large electrified railway ring is an extensive project networking the main economic and administrative centres north and south of the Balkan Range, reducing journey times and improving the efficiency of freight movements.

The so-called first electrified railway ring, covering 633 km between Sofia, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Dabovo and Karlovo, was inaugurated four years earlier, on April 29, 1980. These projects formed part of BDZ's modernization process, which began with the opening of the first electrified line, between Sofia and Plovdiv, in 1963.

Following is an English translation of a news item from BTA's Home News Desk bulletin, covering the inauguration of the electrified ring in 1984:

"New Triumph for Bulgarian Railway Workers

Gorna Oryahovitsa, 19 March (BTA correspondent P. Dimitrova) - On the eve of the National [Communist] Party Conference, the thousands-strong collective of Bulgarian railway transport scored a new victory.

The complete electrification of the major railway ring Sofia - Gorna Oryahovitsa - Ruse - Varna - Burgas - Plovdiv - Sofia was finished and the country's first fully automated marshalling yard, Gorna Oryahovitsa, came into operation. This was the occasion for today's rally, attended by the member of the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party Central Committee and First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Chudomir Alexandrov.

The rally was opened by Nikolai Tsonev, First Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party District Committee in Veliko Tarnovo.

In a report, Deputy Minister of Transport and General Director of the Bulgarian State Railways Economic Association Stoil Ferdov stressed that under contemporary conditions rail transport electrification has established itself as a fundamentally new technology, enabling a steep reduction in railway operating costs, an increase in locomotive technical speeds, and an enhancement of station throughput. Forty-six per cent of the total length of the country's railway network has now been electrified, placing Bulgaria among the leading countries in Europe. Another strategic task is being successfully addressed: comprehensive mechanisation, automation and electronization of operational activity, exemplified by the automated marshalling yard at Gorna Oryahovitsa, which is the first decisive step in this important direction for rail transport.

Transport Minister Vasil Tsanov read a State Council decree conferring the title of Hero of Socialist Labour and orders on designers, builders and managers who had been actively involved in constructing the major railway ring and the first automated marshalling yard.

The high honours were presented by Comrade Chudomir Alexandrov. Congratulating the railway workers on behalf of the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party Central Committee and personally on behalf of Comrade Todor Zhivkov, he emphasized that a deed worthy of our working class and specialists had been accomplished, of exceptional significance for the vigorous development of national transport in the coming years. "The Party's Central Committee," the speaker said, "regards the new asset as an important stage in implementing party decisions on accelerated modernization of Bulgarian rail transport, renewal of production assets on the basis of the foremost advances of scientific and technological progress, and implementation of cutting-edge technologies. It is an important testimony to the maturity of Bulgarian professionals and order-takers and to their ability to tackle scientific, technical and engineering problems."