Sofia Metro is being built with EU‌ money

Liubov Plămădedeală, TV8, August 8, 2024

Reporter: I live in the country’s capital, but it enjoys traffic reminiscent of a small town. We are talking about the capital of Bulgaria. The reason for this is the metro, on which around 450,000 people travel every day.

They prefer underground transportation because it takes them half an hour at most to cross the city. Although the Bulgarian authorities started building the metro as far back as the 1990s, work has been very slow due to lack of funds. But with EU membership, the situation changed radically and now Sofia residents have 3 metro lines with over 80 trains.

Liubov Plămădeală: Today we want to tell you about the Sofia metro. In fact, I am now in the first metro station that was built with European funds, which started in 2009 and was completed in 2012.

For 15 years, more than 30 metro stations have been built in the Bulgarian capital, all with money provided by the European Union. As well as comfortable travel in modern trains for passengers, the Bulgarian authorities have also set out to promote national values. Each station is named after a historical object and decorated in its colors and style.

For example, the first station is called the Bridge of Lions, in honor of the above-ground bridge that was once the busiest intersection connecting the capital with the nearby provinces. A little further on, we come to Serdica station. During the construction of the metro, ruins of the ancient city (from the Roman period – translator’s note) were discovered here.

Because of this, the project was modified and the tunnels were dug even deeper, about 26 meters.

Stoyan Bratoev, executive director of the Sofia metro: This metro station is below the groundwater level.

Everything you see in the pictures costs huge money, says the Sofia metro executive director. The official says that from the state budget, they couldn’t have managed to do even half of what they have now.

Stoyan Bratoev: If it wasn’t for European money, then we wouldn’t have these 34 kilometers of metro. We would have had only 3-4 kilometers more in the last 15-20 years. We built the first 10 kilometers from the state budget for just 23 years.

Since 2007, after Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union, the local and central authorities have managed to attract European investment of €750 million in the metro. From this money, two new metro lines have been built (in addition to the already existing first metro line – note of the translator) and work is under way to extend them.

So Sofia residents will have nine new stations within three years.

Stoyan Bratoev: Not only metro stations but also tunnels are being built. Only the stations are of little use. Besides the station itself there are many additional systems. These include ventilation, power, etc., but also other systems that are key to the operation of a metro station. It’s very difficult to build such a system. Especially because of the relief in Sofia. There’s a lot of underground water here, but it’s been built.

We took a trip on the trains we bought, also with EU funding. And we asked people how traffic has changed in the Bulgarian capital. Most point out that the waiting time at stations has been greatly reduced. And it takes no more than half an hour to get from the first station to the last across town.

Sofia female citizen: It’s very convenient. We can move around freely. It’s very important transportation for Sofia residents. All stations are equipped. The access is very easy. It is very useful for locals. We need the metro.

Another famel Sofia resident: I use the metro every day and I am very satisfied with this means of transportation. It’s very useful for us. It has changed a lot in the meantime. The trains are new, the stations are nicer.

Sofia male citizen: The metro has become very fast, very nice. It’s a high quality service.

Another male citizen of Sofia: This number three line has completely changed. It is a useful transportation for residents. As far as I know this bus was built recently, compared to the other two.

Third female citizen of Sofia: Sofia City has changed completely after the subway was built.

Fourth female Sofia citizen: The European funds have been used very well. I use this metro very often. And it runs extremely fast.

There are currently 82 trains running on the three metro lines in Sofia. And the daily ridership is up to 450 000 people out of more than 1.5 million inhabitants. The goal of the local authorities is to have 80% of the Bulgarian capital’s population using this mode of transport in the next few years.

Photo: Metro station “Bridge of Lions” in Sofia (source: YouTube)

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