First for Bulgaria as audio tour added to narrow-gauge train
For the first time in Bulgaria, an audio tour system has been added to the Rodopi narrow-gauge train, offering information in three languages – Bulgarian, English and Russian.
The Rodopi train runs on the railway line that connects Bulgaria’s regions of Pazardzhik and Blagoevrad.
The audio tour was created by Anatoli Kostov jointly with the “About Narrowband” association.
The application is accessed by using a smartphone to scan a QR code from posters. Users can use the feature to hear more about the railway station and other locations as they are travelling.
Kostov said that users can listen to interesting stories about the building of the narrow-gauge railway line, stations on the line such as Avramovo – at 1267m above sea level, the highest-altitude railway station in the Balkans – and Tsepina, which has Bulgaria’s only museum of narrow-gauge rail.
The Rodopi train was chosen for the project because it is not only well-known in Bulgaria but also popular with foreign tourists.
Kostov said that foreign tourists called the line the “Alpine railway of the Balkans” and the audio facility, which is free-of-charge, can be used online and offline, would make it even better known.
(Photo: bdz43r)
