Minister of Transport attended the inauguration ceremony of the first state intermodal terminal in Bulgaria, built by “Trace Group Hold” Plc

Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Hristo Aleksiev and Dipl. Eng. Varban Angelov, Head of Railway Infrastructure department in Trace cut the band of the first intermodal terminal in Bulgaria.

“Plovdiv is a crossroad between two European corridors and a crossing point of two road and railway arteries. That is the reason namely here to be constructed the first intermodal terminal, constructed with European funds”, stated the Minister Alexiev, and added that the site has already received Act 16.

Intermodal terminals are logistic points located on key international transport corridors. They allow combining different modes of transport for freight transport.

Speaking to the media, Mr. Varban Angelov, Head of Trace Group Hold railway department, said: "The terminal will handle an average of 750,000 tons of cargo a year, which means 3 trains per a day. In the event of good economic development, a second track will be built in time, but this depends on the operator's work. For the second track there is already reserved ground.  

The first terminal for intermodal transport in Bulgaria is situated on a ground of 71,450 square meters in the area of ​​Todor Kableshkov railway station, which is a part of Plovdiv railway junction. The terminal is an important part of the transport communication system in Bulgaria. It is built on the route of Kalotina-Sofia-Plovdiv-Dimitrovgrad-Svilengrad highway, part of the European corridor connecting Europe and Asia. The location of the terminal allowed the construction of a direct connection to the republic road network without passing through the towns and villages.

By decision of the Council of Ministers since July 8, 2011, the Intermodal Terminal in Plovdiv has been declared as a project of national importance and has been included to be finances under OP "Transport" 2007-2013. The Beneficiary is the National Railway Infrastructure Company and the technical project and the construction works have been executed by “Trace Group Hold” Plc.

The intermodal terminal includes the following parts:Terminal site for loading and unloading cargos; railways and catenary; administrative building; additional services and security availability; parking lot for trucks and cars; etc.           

Project video is available here.