The Sofia Metro is expanding on Friday, 14 August, with three new stations and approximately 3 km of track on Line 3. The new section is expected to attract over 45,000 passengers a day. The Bulgarian capital is thus continuing to expand its network.
Three new metro stations will come into service on Friday, 14 August, in Sofia, with the opening of the Line 3 extension built beneath “Gen. Vladimir Vazov” Boulevard.
The new section is approximately 3 km long and comprises the stations ‘Georgi Asparuhov Stadium’, ‘Basarabia’ and ‘Gen. Vladimir Vazov’. Passengers will be allowed access after 12:00, announced Metropoliten EAD, the company that operates the metro in the Bulgarian capital.
“I would like to thank the residents of Hadji Dimitar, Levski V and Levski G for the patience, understanding and cooperation they have shown during the construction of the line. With the opening of the new section, the result of several years’ work is becoming a reality, and thousands of residents in these neighbourhoods will have access to faster, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly transport to various parts of Sofia,” said Nikolai Naidenov, chief executive of Metropoliten.
Over 45,000 passengers a day
The new section extends Line 3 to the Levski neighbourhood and will improve connections for residents of Hadji Dimitar, Suhata reka and Levski.
Local authorities estimate that the extension will enable over 45,000 people a day to use the metro more easily.
The Mayor of Sofia, Vasil Terziev, stated in the spring that the new route will enable journeys from these neighbourhoods to the NDK – the National Palace of Culture – in around 12 minutes.
Passengers will be able to continue to other parts of the city via Line 3’s connections to the rest of the network, including Orlov Most and NDK. The metro also provides connections to the Central Railway Station, the central coach station and Sofia Airport.
With the opening of the three stations, four Siemens trains will be introduced on Line 3, as announced by the municipality at the end of July.
Work began in 2022
Construction of the extension between Hadji Dimitar and the Levski area began on 21 March 2022, with the project taking approximately four years to complete.
The investment is funded through the Bulgarian Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), with approximately BGN 284 million, equivalent to around EUR 145 million.
A park & ride car park with a capacity of 100 cars is also planned at the ‘Gen. Vladimir Vazov’ station.
The authorities are also planning a larger car park, with around 400 spaces, near the new extension.
The opening of the section is also expected to create around 100 new jobs.
Sofia continues to build its metro
The three stations now open are part of a wider programme to expand Sofia’s metro network.
In addition to the section due to open on Friday, six stations in the Slatina area and a further one in Obelia are under construction. Tunneling work is currently underway for the Slatina section.
Once the current projects are completed, the authorities estimate that the network will reach 61 km and 57 stations, and the number of passengers will exceed 650,000 per day. The metro would thus account for over 45 per cent of urban public transport in the Bulgarian capital.
Sofia is also planning further extensions, including an extension to Liulin, as far as the ring road, a future connection to Studentski Grad and an extension towards the lower station of the Simeonovo cable car.
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