In response to reports received from members of the public and the petition to retain the Ruse–Plovdiv–Ruse rail link, an urgent meeting was held on the initiative of the Minister of Transport and Communications, Georgi Peev, between representatives of the Railway Administration Executive Agency, the National Railway Infrastructure Company, BDZ – Passenger Services and Ivkoni Express, with Ruse Municipality taking part online.
The meeting confirmed that the direct rail link between Ruse and Plovdiv will be retained following the introduction of the new train timetable from 13 December 2026. Services on the route will be operated by Ivkoni Express. The change concerns the departure and arrival times, not the route itself.
The train from Ruse will depart at 04:30 instead of 04:40 and will continue directly to Plovdiv with the same train set, without passengers having to change at Gorna Oryahovitsa. A 10-minute stop is scheduled at Gorna Oryahovitsa station, and arrival in Plovdiv will remain within the same time slot.
In the opposite direction, the train will depart from Plovdiv at 13:15 instead of 16:05 and will arrive in Ruse at 20:20 instead of 23:12, allowing passengers to get home earlier.
Additional stops are also planned between Gorna Oryahovitsa and Ruse, which will make travel easier for people who work and study in the larger towns along the route.
In response to public interest in the draft new timetable, it was also confirmed that trains passing through Pavlikeni station will not be withdrawn or reduced and will continue to run as before.
On 5 and 6 October, public consultations on the draft Train Timetable for 2027 were held in Gorna Oryahovitsa and Plovdiv respectively and today the consultation continues in Sofia. Until the end of the month, members of the public may continue to send proposals and opinions for the whole country to project_bdz@bdz.bg and office@ivkoni-express.com.