With today’s commissioning of the site we are investing over 76 million levs to improve railway safety, said the Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Peter Kirov at the inauguration ceremony to launch the construction of signaling systems along the railway line Plovdiv - Septemvri and telecommunication systems along the line Sofia - Plovdiv. A special green traffic light marked the symbolic launch of the project.

"In recent years we have invested nearly 440 million levs for the modernization of the railway infrastructure in the country", said Deputy Minister Kirov. All rail projects under OP "Transport" are ongoing and should be completed by the end of 2015. "I hope that we will keep the pace of work and we will be able to absorb all the available resource under  OP "Transport" 2007 - 2013 as well as the new programming period 2014 - 2020", he added.

The site is part of the "Modernization of the railway section Septemvri - Plovdiv - part of the Trans-European railway network", which is financed by the Cohesion Fund under Operational Programme "Transport 2007 – 2013". The contractor for the design and construction is Consortium "TCB Sofia-Plovdiv". The period of the contract is 28 months, eight of which are dedicated to the design works.

The range of activities includes constructing of an ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) with its major components: ETCS (European Train Control System) Level 1 along the section Septemvri – Plovdiv and GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway) along the section Sofia – Plovdiv. A higher level of train traffic safety will be achieved with the construction of these systems. The ETCS system drastically decreases the possibility of proceeding at red light or surpassing the permitted train speed limit. The equipment ensures interoperability, enabling the trains equipped with ETCS and GSM-R systems delivered by various manufacturers, to move safely and effectively along the section. The technical reliability of the equipment is also increased, because of the small number of expected technical failures, which are the main reason for schedule delays. The modernization contributes to better customer survice for passengers at the train stations, providing them with real time information of timetable schedules, directions and connections, as well as travel safety messages.

The event took place at the Sofia train station of Poduene in the presence of the Director General of National Railway Infrastructure Company Milcho Lambrev, Deputy Director General Hristo Aleksiev, representatives of the contractor and others.