The Bulgarian State Railways (, abbreviated as БДЖ, BDZ or BDŽ) are Bulgaria's state railway company and former largest railway carrier in the country, established as an entity in 1888. The company's headquarters are located in the capital Sofia. Since the 1990s, the BDŽ has met serious competition from automotive transport. Up to 2002 the company also owned/managed the state railway (up to 2485 mi total of 1435 mm & 760 mm (Septemvri to Dobrinishte only) track gauge railway tracks) infrastructure in the country, when according to EU regulations a new state company, the National Railway Infrastructure Company, was founded and became the owner of the infrastructure.
Bulgaria is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Bulgaria is 52.
History
On 1 January 2002, the new Railway Transport Act entered into force, passed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, according to which the National Company Bulgarian State Railways were split into two separate enterprises – a railway carrier (Bulgarian State Railways EAD) and an infrastructure enterprise (Railway Infrastructure National Company)
The European Commission formally warned Bulgaria in May 2010 for failure to implement the First Railway rules on track access charges.[1] In October 2010 further restructuring was announced, with BDŽ EAD becoming a holding company, and all rolling stock allocated to passenger & freight subsidiaries.