National Railway Infrastructure Company
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The National Railway Infrastructure Company ( bg, Национална компания Железопътна инфраструктура, ''Natsionalna kompaniya Zhelezopatna infrastruktura'', abbreviated as НКЖИ or NRIC) is
Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
's state railway infrastructure company, established as an entity on 1 January 2002. The company's headquarters are located in the capital city
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
near
Sofia Central Station 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 r ...
. It is the owner and operator of most of the country's rail lines. Bulgaria is a member of the
International Union of Railways The International Union of Railways (UIC, french: Union internationale des wikt:chemin de fer, chemins de fer) is an international rail transport industry body. History The railways of Europe originated as many separate concerns, and there wer ...
(UIC). The
UIC Country Code The UIC Country Code is a two digit-number identifying countries in which members of the International Union of Railways (UIC) are active. The UIC has issued numbering systems for rolling stock ( UIC wagon numbers) and stations that include the cou ...
for Bulgaria is 52.


History

On 1 January 2002, National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC) was established as a state-owned entity upon the enactment of previously approved legislation. It was created for the purpose of maintaining the condition of the railway infrastructure for the use of licensed operators (including its repair, operation, and development), collect infrastructure access charges as defined by the Bulgarian government, define timetables in coordination with train operators, conform with all relevant safety, reliability, and security requirements in its management of the railways, fulfil all public service obligations, and to keep detailed, accurate, and up-to-date records on all objects pertaining to the railway infrastructure and associated land. By the arrival of the twenty-first century, Bulgaria's railway network was amongst the most dense of all Eastern European nations, having a total track length of 6,938km, 148 tunnels, 483 level crossings, and 1,016 bridges. Roughly 67% of all track in Bulgaria was electrified. However, connections with neighbouring nations were limited; only two cross-border lines into
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
and
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
were operational, along with one line for
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
and
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, while no lines connected to Macedonia. The majority of Bulgarian lines, by means of its geometric parameters and trackside structures, were typically limited to a maximum speed of 100km/h; a persistent shortage of funds for maintenance during the 1990s had also diminished track quality in places, forcing speed restrictions in places and negatively impacting both freight and passenger services. However, the NRIC soon formulated ambitious plans to bolster operating speeds, capacity, and regional interconnectivity via the upgrading of its network. During the late 2000s, the NRIC was engaged in infrastructure modernisation efforts; a key aim of these schemes was to pursue the closer integration of the Bulgarian railway with that of the wider European community. By 2008, Bulgarian legislation had been harmonised with
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
(EU) counterparts, a move that was promoted as elevating both safety and efficiency standards; considerable financial support was also being provided by the EU for railway-related schemes. Work was primarily focused upon those lines than corresponded with Common European Transport Corridor routes; accordingly, improvements were being pursued to bring these into compliance with the technical operational parameters of track, catenary and signalling. One such project was the construction of a second bridge over the
Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
, along with connecting lines on either side, at a cost of €226 million. The modernisation of the railway line between
Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as o ...
and
Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...
was costed at €1,324 million, while the electrification and reconstruction of the
Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
Svilengrad Svilengrad ( bg, Свиленград; el, Σβίλενγκραντ; ota, Cisr-i Mustafapaşa) is a town in Haskovo Province, south-central Bulgaria, situated at the border of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. It is the administrative centre of the h ...
line (facilitating a wider railway connection between Europe and Asia) came to a cost of €340 million. The doubling and electrification of the Carnobat and Syndel line cost €2,112 million. Further refurbishments of other lines, aimed not only at expanding technical compliance but also operational capacity, were also underway during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Another area of investment was in improving
intermodal freight Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...
; a new terminal serving the Sofia region was constructed while further facilities were in planning. During early 2012, it was reported that the organisation aimed to have completed all work in respect to lines on the Serbian border– Sofia–Plovdiv–Svilengrad–Turkish/Greek border and Plovdiv–Burgas by 2020, which shall permit an elevated maximum speed of 160km/h along those routes while also bringing them into full compliance with the technical specifications for interoperability. Furthermore, additional freight terminals at
Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...
and Russe were in the early stages of construction. Between 2012 and 2014, Лв. 1.3 billion to be invested into the railway. In February 2013, NRIC awarded a contract to a
consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
of
Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...
and
Kapsch The Kapsch Group, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, is an international corporation specializing in telematics, information technology and telecommunication. History and operations In September 1892, Johann Kapsch (1845–1921) founded a precisio ...
for the deployment of
GSM-R GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications. A sub-system of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), it is us ...
telecommunications and
European Train Control System The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...
(ETCS) Level 1 trackside equipment, alongside electronic interlockings and other apparatus; amongst other benefits, the new systems should facilitate increasing line speeds, improved reliability, and greater operational capacity. That same year, it was announced that strong financial performance had been recorded at NRIC, permitting the clearance of all debts that were owed to external partners; this turnaround, as the organisation at one point had been facing substantial fiscal stress, was largely attributed to restricting efforts that had, amongst other changes, caused a reduction in staff headcount from 15,000 in December 20009 to 12,600 by October 2012. By the mid 2010s, the NRIC was reportedly generating the majority of its revenue from track access charges on the various train operators, both domestic and international. In early 2013, the agency was negotiating with the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
for a Лв. 140 million loan to finance the purchasing of new maintenance machinery. To help mitigate financial difficulties, the NRIC adopted various cost optimisation processes and fiscal implementation reviews, including for alternative financing options where applicable. Around this same timeframe, it also invested in the modernisation of numerous level crossings with the aim of reducing accident rates, which had been amongst the highest recorded in Europe at the time. Specific measures included the installation of additional signals, automation of numerous crossings, extra
axle counter An axle counter is a system used in railway signalling to detect the clear or occupied status of a section of track between two points. The system generally consists of a wheel sensor (one for each end of the section) and an evaluation unit for c ...
s, and new
CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
installations. By 2021, the NRIC had reportedly electrified 80% of the Bulgarian railway network while work was still ongoing on increasing this further. During the early 2020s, it was engaged in the establishment of a railway line between the cities of Sofia and
Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...
, having gained the backing of both Bulgarian and Macedonian governments, reviving construction work that had been initially started during the early 1940s in the process. Furthermore, the agency was actively implementing new computerised management systems, optical cable networks, and digital equipment that would enhance train capacity and safety levels, while new substation apparatus would reduce energy consumption.


References

{{Reflist 2002 establishments in Bulgaria Companies based in Sofia Railway companies established in 2002 Railway companies of Bulgaria