Bulgarian railways to halt some trains for an hour as clocks change to winter time

The upcoming time change, on October 26, will require changes in the timetable of 11 passenger trains, Bulgarian state railways BDZ said.

As The Sofia Globe reported earlier, clocks in Bulgaria change to winter time at 4am on October 26 2025, the final Sunday of the month, going back an hour to 3am.

BDZ said that when switching from summer to winter time, it is necessary for the trains to stay at different railway stations on the night between October 25 and 26.

This is necessary in order not to disrupt the train timetable, BDZ said.

The existing practice in railway transport when switching from summer to winter time is for trains to make a 60-minute stop at the first station on their routes when approaching 4am.

“In this way, the train schedule is not violated and their passage through the relevant stations earlier than announced is avoided, which would lead to serious confusion in the timetable and of other trains connecting with the compositions affected by the time change.”

The transition from summer to winter time this year will affect the following trains, which will stop at the nearest railway station.

The international fast train No. 492 from Istanbul to Sofia will stop at Svilengrad station;

The fast train No. 2626 from Varna to Sofia (via Gorna Oryahovitsa) will stop at Mezdra station;

Fast train No. 2627 from Sofia to Varna (via Gorna Oryahovitsa) will stop at Popovo station;

The fast train No. 8626 from Bourgas to Sofia (via Plovdiv) will stop at Elin Pelin station;

The fast train No. 8627 from Sofia to Bourgas (via Plovdiv) will stop at Nova Zagora station;

The fast train No. 8656 from Varna to Sofia (via Plovdiv) will stop at Dimitrovgrad station;

The fast train No. 8657 from Sofia to Varna (via Plovdiv) will stop at Komunari station;

Fast train No. 9647 from Sofia to Silistra will stop at Razgrad station;

Passenger train No. 16101 from Septemvri to Dobrinishte will stop at Dolene station;

Passenger train No. 10120 from Septemvri to Bankya will stop at Kostenets station;

The suburban passenger train No. 20200 from Mezdra to Sofia will stop at Lakatnik station.