Elaboration of a draft National Plan for the Development of the Combined Transport in the Republic of Bulgaria until 2030

The European Union’s (EU) transport policy is aimed at supporting less polluting and more energy-efficient modes of transport and reducing the share of road transport. The promotion of multimodality and the reorientation towards low carbon transport modes is one of the key priorities of the European Commission’s new flagship initiative “European Green Deal ”, presented in December 2019. The Green Deal, supported by investments in green technology, sustainable solutions and new enterprise, can be the new EU growth strategy. One of the measures set out under the element of the Green Deal “Accelerating the shift to sustainable and smart mobility” is to increase the efficiency of the transport system by priority development of rail and waterborne transport. Following the new development in the European policy aimed at improving the efficiency and quality of the transport services, reducing the negative impact over the environment, and taking into account that Bulgaria needs to fulfil the enabling conditions for the promotion of multimodality to gain access to the EU funds in the period 2021-2027, it is necessary to elaborate a concept for the development of combined transport at a national level, which should be combined with a package of measures for its implementation. A strategic document, taking into account the needs of the users, would allow policy continuity, investment efficiency and synergies of incentive measures. Given the above, and in line with Article 57 of the Rail Transport Act, the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications hereby initiate the development of a National Combined Transport Development Plan until 2030. The National Combined Transport Development plan, based on the thorough study, will establish a long-term vision for the development of combined transport operations in the country. It will take into account the point of view of stakeholders from the transport sector and reflect European best practices.

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