Bulgaria joins Viking combined train project

BDŽ Tovarni Prevozi Ltd., the freight operator of the Bulgarian State Railways, in December 2012 joined the Viking combined train project whose participants are the railways of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania.

The new participant joined the project at a meeting of the project's participants in Kyiv on December 19, 2012, according to the press service of the State Rail Transport Administration, Ukrzaliznytsia.

The participants in the project believe that BDŽ Tovarni Prevozi's joining the project will ensure optimal conditions for freight transportation in the direction of Bulgaria, and will be conducive to an increase in amounts of freight transported by the Viking combined train.

The Viking combined transport train started operating in 2003. The total length of its route from Illichivsk (Ukraine) to Minsk (Belarus) and farther to Draugyste (Lithuania) is 1,766 km. It links the ports of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.

In order to boost transportation, Ukrzaliznytsia on January 19, 2012, launched regular departures of the Viking train heading for Belarus and Lithuania on certain days of the week irrespectively of the number of its carriages.