I. History

The Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) were founded in 1888 and are one of the oldest railways in Europe .

In 2001 the government decided to liberalize the market of transport services and divided the National Company Bulgarian State Railways into two, according to their business activities - the railway carrier and the railway infrastructure .

The National Railway Infrastructure Company ( NRIC ) exists since 01.01.2002, when in compliance with the Railway Transport Act the National Company Bulgarian State Railways was divided into two

companies – NRIC and BDZ – asingle person joint stock company . It is the assignee of the National Company Bulgarian State Railways and acquired the corresponding part of its assets and liabilities balance, which is relevant to the railway infrastructure as of 01.01.2002 .

II. Business activities

NRIC is a juridical person with the status of a state enterprise under article 62, paragraph 3 of the Commerce Law.

The main business activities of NRIC are :

• Providing the operation exploitation of the railway infrastructure by licensed carriers under equal conditions ;
• The supervision of the development , the overhaul , the maintenance and the operation exploitation of the railway infrastructure ;
• The collection of infrastructure charges to a amount , fixed by the Council of Ministers , by an offer from the Minister of Transport ;
• Working out of timetables , coordinated with the railway carriers , for the passenger traffic – with the municipalities ;
•  The management of the train operation in the railway infrastructure in compliance with the safety , dependability and security regulations ;
• The reception of all traffic requests from the railway carriers ;
• The reception and fulfilment of all requests , ensuing from the obligations for public services ;
• The creation , updating and preservation of a registry , comprising data about the land and objects of the railway infrastructure ;
• The carrying out of the investment policy o n the development and modernization , the maintenance and the overhaul of the railway infrastructure for realization of the European criteria and standards .

NRIC organizes, carries out and is responsible for meeting its obligations under a long-term agreement, concluded between the company and the state. The company organizes its entire activity on the basis of researches, prognoses and programs for the development of the railway infrastructure in keeping with this agreement.

The company’s activities are regulated through the Railway Transport Act , the subdelegated legislation for its administration , the international agreements for the railway transport , to which the Republic of Bulgaria is a party , and are in accordance with the regulations of the European Commission , namely :

A) European Commission Regulation 2001/12 on the development of the railways in the European Community;
B ) European Commission Regulation 2001/13 on the licensing of the railway enterprises;
C ) European Commission Regulation 2001/14 on the alignment of the railway infrastructure capacity and rates and the certification of safety.

NRIC has established an international scientific and technological partnership through its participation in : the International Union of Railways (UIC); the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (CIT); the European RailResearch Institute (ERRI); the Organization for Cooperation of Railways ( OSJD ) and other international organizations .

NRIC creates atwo-sided partnership with foreign administrations in order to increase the efficiency of the railway passenger and goods traffic .

III. Basic Characteristics

Technical Specifications :

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