Sofia Metro line 3 extension to Gorna Banya goes into service
Sofia metro underground transit system’s extension to Gorna Banya borough went into service on April 24, adding four new stations and a connection to the railway line serving south-western Bulgaria.
Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova said that that an estimated 50 000 people were expected to make use of the extension, which is expected to decrease car traffic in the area by 25 per cent, allowing residents along the new section of metro line 3 to reach the city centre in 12 minutes.
As part of the construction, Sofia authorities have built or modernised five km of city boulevards and built three parking lots with 700 cars capacity, she said. The new section is four km and takes the total length of Sofia’s metro network to 52km.
The new section is also expected to reduce traffic in the central part of Sofia, as railway passengers will now be able to hop off the train and onto the metro at the newly-built railway station in Gorna Banya, rather than at the Central Railway Station, state railways BDZ said earlier in the week.
The new station creates a “convenient connection” to passengers of the railway line serving Pernik, Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad, offering people from outside Sofia who travel for work in the city every day a cleaner transportation alternative, BDZ said.
BDZ said that a booth selling metro tickets would be open in the railway station, while machines selling railway tickets would be installed in the metro station.
Further expansion of Sofia metro line 3 will focus on the eastwards, with eight stations planned, reaching Sofia Tech Park in one direction and Levski G neighbourhood in the other, Transport Minister Rossen Zhelyazkov said.
(Ovcha Koupel station on Sofia metro line 3. Photo: metropolitan.bg)
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