Bulgaria and Romania are to benefit from €420 million investment in Greek railways, easing travel and boosting economic ties with Greece, part of a longer-term plan to make rail travel and trade more efficient in southeast Europe.
The funding will modernize and expand rail infrastructure, enhance connectivity between Romania and Bulgaria and Greece, while the upgraded Greek rail system will improve efficiency, reduce travel times, and attract new business, driving growth in the region.
Of the total €420 million investment, €308 million is dedicated to new rolling stock including the purchase of 23 next-generation electric trains, manufactured by Alstom. The rains are designed to operate both on long-distance intercity routes and suburban networks.
The announcement came a month after the European Commission unveiled a plan for the development of high-speed rail links across Europe, including a railway connecting the capitals of Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.
The new high-speed railway between the countries is projected to cut travel time between Athens and Sofia from over 13 hours to just six hours and between Sofia and Bucharest from 10 hours to six hours, the Commission said in a press release. The two new connections are part of a comprehensive EU transport package which aims to create a faster, more interoperable and better-connected European rail network by 2040.
Building on the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the plan foresees connecting major nodes at speeds of 200 km/h and above, where possible, by eliminating cross-border bottlenecks, creating a coordinated financing strategy and upgrading railway conditions.
The plan aims to cut journey times and make rail a more attractive alternative to short-haul air travel, thus increasing passenger numbers and boosting regional economies and tourism.
Under the latest investment, 12 of the new trains will serve the Athens-Thessaloniki corridor, a vital route that has long been underfunded and inefficient. The remaining eleven trains will support suburban lines in Attica and Thessaloniki.
