The Bulgarian Ministry of Transport has signed its first contract with a private passenger transport operator that has entered the Bulgarian railway market.

On February 11, Minister Grozdan Karadjov signed a contract with operator Ivkoni Express EAD for the provision of passenger rail transport services in the country. At the same time, he also signed a contract with the national operator BDZ – Passenger Transport (BDZ-Passengers).

Following an open and competitive procedure, the Western Region, which covers 75% of the country’s rail transport, was awarded to BDZ – Passenger Transport. For the other two regions – North (14% of transport) and South (11%) – Ivkoni Express ranked first. The contracts for the three lots have a duration of 12 years and come into force on December 13, 2026.

The signing of the contract with the new operator is an important signal for the development of the Bulgarian railway market, because “with the opening of the service to private operators, transport should become increasingly comfortable and punctual for Bulgarian citizens. By signing these contracts, we have successfully completed a key reform under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Without accurate and timely implementation, Bulgaria risked not only delays but also the actual loss of investments for new rolling stock financed by the plan,” the minister said.

Over the next ten months, the two operators will have to establish clear cooperation procedures so that the transition is smooth and services after December 13 are better for passengers.

Under the contracts, BDZ will serve lines with a total length of over 17.7 million train-kilometers, while Ivkoni Express will operate approximately 3 million train-kilometers until December 2038.

Ivkoni Express is part of Union Ivkoni, the country’s largest bus operator, serving 100 cities in Bulgaria and over 150 cities in Central and Western Europe, Greece, and Turkiye.

As part of the market opening process, the state retains a key role in rail transport as it sets the scope of services, quality standards, control, and financing, and the rolling stock remains public property.

“We prepared and conducted the procedure with an unprecedented level of publicity and transparency. All documentation was developed under constant monitoring and in coordination with the European Commission. It was a conscious choice: instead of creating a more formal solution, which would later be challenged, we built a model that is fully compatible with the European framework,” emphasized Minister Grozdan Karadjov.

The liberalization of the passenger rail transport sector is part of the Transport Strategy 2030, which focuses on shifting traffic to rail and encouraging train travel. The liberalization process, in its first stage, covered three regions—the west, north, and south—with BDZ-Passengers and Ivkoni Express competing for the latter two.