Bulgarian railways begins additional train service to the coast for the 2025 summer season
During the 2025 summer season, Bulgarian state railways BDZ will ensure the daily movement of additional fast trains with mandatory reserved seats on the Sofia – Bourgas – Sofia and Sofia – Varna – Sofia lines, BDZ said on June 10.
The trains will consist of three German-made air-conditioned saloon-type carriage and a bistro carriage, BDZ said.
The seasonal trains will run from June 15 to September 15 and have an optimized schedule so that they cover the routes between capital city Sofia and the two largest seaside cities as quickly as possible, given the current infrastructure capabilities, it said.
Fast train No. 3601 from Sofia to Bourgas will depart as scheduled from Sofia Central Station at 6.15am and arrive in Bourgas at 11.40am. Along its route, the train will stop at Iskarsko Shosse, in Karlovo, Kazanluk, Dabovo and Sliven. In the opposite direction, fast train No. 3602 from Bourgas to Sofia will depart from Bourgas Station at 5.05pm and will arrive in Sofia at 10.25pm.
The fast train No. 2601 will depart from Sofia North station at 7.55am and arrive in Varna at 2.27pm with stops along the route in Mezdra, Pleven, Gorna Oryahovitsa and Shoumen. In the opposite direction, the fast train No. 2602 will depart from Varna at 4.35pm and arrive at Sofia Central Station at 11.12pm.
The price of a one-way ticket for travel between Sofia and Burgas in second class is 38 leva with a mandatory reserved seat worth one lev, and between Sofia and Varna – 47 leva.
BDZ customers can benefit from a 20 per cent discount when purchasing a round-trip ticket. In this case, the price for travel between Sofia and Bourgas in second class will be 57.30 leva with a reserved seat in both directions and 66.90 leva for a Sofia – Varna return ticket.
The bistro carriage of the train has 18 first class seats, the prices for which are 47.30 leva including a mandatory reserved seat worth one lev in one direction on the Sofia – Bourgas – Sofia route and 70.40 leva for a return ticket.
On the Sofia – Varna – Sofia route, the price for a one-way trip is 58.50 leva, and the round-trip ticket is 84.40 leva with reserved seats included.
Train tickets can be purchased from the ticket offices at the stations, at specialized railway offices and through the online ticketing system, which is available at the address: https://bileti.bdz.bg/.
The National Railway Infrastructure Company issued a reminder that during the summer season, mandatory periodic measurements of the temperature of the rails are carried out every hour throughout the infrastructure and when critical temperatures above 55°C are reached, speed restrictions are introduced for a certain time on certain sections.
This is a mandatory measure that guarantees traffic safety and prevents accidents in the event of loss of stability of the railway and may lead to minor deviations from the train schedule in the affected section of the network, the statement said.
BDZ said that customers can obtain information about the train schedule from the electronic travel guide on the company’s official website (www.bdz.bg), from the employees of the ticket offices and information counters, as well as on the national information phone number 02/931 11 11.
(Photo: © Petar Nikolov, via BDZ’s website)
