The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications, Grozdan Karadjov, ordered BDZ-Passenger Transport to refund the ticket costs for all standing passengers who had reserved seats on the Sofia - Varna train, which departed on 28 March 2025 at 10:21 A.M. The Deputy Prime Minister announced this via a post on his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/KaradjovGrozdan).
According to the original plan, the train was scheduled to run with 4 carriages, but due to technical issues, one of the planned carriages could not be attached, resulting in the train departing with only 3. As a result, passengers who had pre-purchased tickets with reserved seats were unable to use them and were forced to travel standing.
"First and foremost, I wish to apologise for the inconvenience caused to all passengers," said Deputy Prime Minister Karadjov, noting that such situations are completely unacceptable, though unfortunately not uncommon. "At my order, 'BDZ - Passenger Transport' EOOD has already put in place a process to refund the ticket costs for passengers who were unable to use their reserved seats," Karadjov added.
The Deputy Prime Minister further ordered that reserve carriages be kept in operational readiness to be deployed in similar situations in the future. "I have also ordered improvements to the claims procedure, so that in such cases, citizens can be compensated much more quickly and easily," he stated.