site.btaDeputy PM Karadjov to Open Public Discussion on Upcoming Railway Passenger Transport Services Procedure

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov will host a public discussion on the procedure for awarding passenger rail transport services at 9:30 a.m. at the Hilton Hotel, Ruen Hall, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said on Tuesday. Karadjov will discuss the future development of rail passenger transport with trade unions, MPs, representatives of the scientific community, rail carriers, non-governmental organizations, experts, and others.

On June 2, the Ministry of Transport published for public consultation a draft of the terms and conditions for awarding public transport services by rail. Prior to the publication of the draft, Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadjov undertook to discuss the details of the upcoming procedure with all interested parties before it begins.

On Monday, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) announced its opposition to the division of the passenger rail transport service in Bulgaria into three lots. "We are against the division into lots and there is no reason, no requirement from anyone to do this - neither from the European Commission, nor under the Recovery and Resilience Plan," CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov told a news conference on Monday. The fact that the Bulgarian market is small makes it possible to outsource the service to one carrier, he said. “We do not see any public need for this,” Dimitrov said. According to him, by dividing the service into lots it will not become better because of the small market and because of the splitting of the subsidy into three, which will lead to additional problems.