The Sofia Central Railway Station ( bg, Централна железопътна гара София, translit=Tsentralna zhelezopatna gara Sofiya) is the main passenger railway station of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, as well as the largest railway station in the country. It is located 1 km north of the city centre after

Lavov most Lions' Bridge ( bg, Лъвов мост; ''Lavov most'') is a bridge over the Vladaya River in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, built 1889–1891 by Czech architect Václav Prošek, his brother Jozef and his cousins Bohdan and Jiří ...

, on

Marie Louise Boulevard Maria Luiza Boulevard ( bg, Булевард Мария Луиза), also called Maria Luiza, which is the Bulgarian transliteration of Marie Louise, is a central boulevard in Sofia. It connects Central Railway Station and Vitosha Boulevard whic ...

in the immediate proximity of the Central Bus Station Sofia. It was completely renovated in 2016.

History

The original building of the Sofia Railway Station was opened on 1 August 1888 to serve the

Tsaribrod Dimitrovgrad ( sr-cyr, Димитровград) alternatively Caribrod ( bg, Цариброд, Tsaribrod) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of southeastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the municipality of Dimitrovgrad ...

-Sofia-

Vakarel Vakarel ( bg, Вакарел) is a village, away from Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Population: 1984 people. It is situated in the Sredna Gora mountains, within Ihtiman Municipality. The village is an important transport knot along the Sofia ...

line, the first line of the Bulgarian State Railways entirely built by Bulgarian engineers. The building was designed by the architects Antonín Kolář, Václav Prošek and Marinov, and built with the participation of Italian specialists under Bulgarian undertaker Ivan Grozev between 1882 and 1888. It was a one-storey building, 96 m long and 12 m wide, featuring a small

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

looking towards Vitosha on the façade and a second storey in the western and eastern part. The first station master was Yosif Karapirov. The Sofia Railway Station was renovated and expanded several times. When the

Poduyane railway station Poduyane railway station ( bg, Железопътна гара Подуяне) is the second largest railway station in Sofia, Bulgaria, after Sofia Central Station The Sofia Central Railway Station ( bg, Централна железопът� ...

was constructed in 1948, the Sofia Railway Station was renamed the Central Railway Station. The old building was completely demolished on 15 April 1974, as the construction of a new

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

Central Railway Station had begun in 1971. The station was opened on 6 September 1974, having been designed by the Transproekt company under lead architect Milko Bechev. It has two underground and three overground storeys and 365 premises and was built of mainly white marble. Between January and July 2004 the Central Railway Station in Sofia had served 2,323,844 passengers, or 11.8% of all in the country's railway network for that period. An average 10,910 people pass through the station daily, as well as an average 166 trains (84 arriving and 82 departing). The station has 30 ticket offices and 5 electronic timetable displays.

Destinations

The following destinations can be reached directly from Sofia Railway Station: *

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

* Bucharest * Istanbul * Niš * Thessaloniki

Transport links

Bus

Regional and international bus services are provided at Central Bus Station Sofia, which lies next to Sofia Central Station.

Public transport

* Tramway service: lines 1, 3, 6, 7, 12 *

Bus service Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications ...

: lines 60, 74, 77, 78, 82, 85, 101, 213, 214, 285, 305, 404, 413

Metro

Central Railway Metro Station of Sofia Metro (line 2) lies just next to Sofia Central Station.

Taxi

Parking

Airport

Renovations

The Central Railway Station and the square in front of it were essentially renovated and reconstructed in the 2000s under Milan Dobrev and Olympic Stadium Munich-style

tensile In physics, tension is described as the pulling force transmitted axially by the means of a string, a rope, chain, or similar object, or by each end of a rod, truss member, or similar three-dimensional object; tension might also be described as t ...

elements of 4,500 m² were added. The interior was also considerably modernized. The entire project cost US$3.5 million.
/sup> On 22 August 2013 a 56 million Bulgarian lev, leva (~28.6 million euro) renovation contract was signed. The renovation was completed in 2016.