References:               

Vidin - Sofia Railway Line

A major bottleneck in the realisation of the railway route along the transport corridor IV is the existing section between Vidin in Northern Bulgaria (at the border with Romania) and Sofia. The completely electrified route comprises innumerable bridges, tunnels, stations and other structures and has the character of a mountain railway in some sections, with tight curves and a large longitudinal gradient. Due to poor maintenance and a lack of repair and rehabilitation measures in the last decades, on some sections of the route trains can only travel at speeds of 35 km/h.

The aim of the feasibility study is to find the most favourable option for adapting the route to meet the requirements of transport corridor IV and to eliminate current constraints and bottlenecks (in particular with a view to speed), in order to achieve the adaptation to EU standards and a line capacity that can accommodate the expected traffic volume. From the current point of view this will require a considerable number of tunnels along several sections of the route.

Subsequently the tender documents for the EIA study, the preliminary design and the procurement strategy for the construction works have to be prepared.