Five bids were submitted by two operators under the procedure for carrying out passenger transport by rail. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadzhov announced in Plovdiv. The procedure was opened at the end of August, and the deadline for submitting bids expired yesterday at midnight.
The procedure is divided into three lots for three regions in the country – western, northern and southern. For the Western region, which covers 75% of the total volume of rail transport, one bid was submitted by BDZ-Passenger Transport EOOD. For the Northern and Southern regions, respectively with transport volumes of 14% and 11%, two bids were submitted - by BDZ-Passenger Services EOOD and Ivkoni Ekspres EAD.
“I expect that by the end of the year we will complete the evaluation of the proposals, after which there will be clarity on which region will be serviced by which operator,” Grozdan Karadzhov added. The term of the contracts will be 12 years, starting from 13 December, 2026.