site.btaRailway Accidents from January to April 2025 Drop by Nearly 40% Compared to Previous 6 Months

The total number of railway accidents from January to April 2025 has decreased by almost 40%, from 129 to 74 cases, compared to the previous six months, Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov reported during a briefing at the Ministry on Tuesday.

The total number of all situations, which nearly led to incidents, decreased by 29% from 220 to 156 cases, Karadjov said. He expressed hope that this would be a trend and added that safety measures will be applied more strictly and expanded. Regarding railway safety, Karadjov said that the urgent measures have been fully implemented, while the medium-term ones are being implemented as scheduled.

Regarding measures related to railway employee discipline, the Minister said that zero tolerance for violators of safety rules has been introduced. Drastic violations of safety rules, such as running red traffic lights, were established, which resulted in employees getting punished. Two employees were fired from the National Railway Infrastructure Company in February, and another one was fired in March. "There have been no such violations since March 17, which is a good trend," Karadjov stated.

Violations of labour discipline and security measures continue to occur, however, they are becoming rarer and less severe. Punishments will continue and will be in line with the severity of the violations, Karadjov noted. 

A database of safety performance indicators will be available on the Executive Agency Railway Administration’s website within a month in order to provide visibility on whether a violation of the safety rules is isolated or systematic.

Breath alcohol ignition interlock devices with biometric facial recognition will be installed in locomotives and carriages. The trains will not be able to start, if the train driver has recently consumed alcohol. Similar devices will also be installed at the dispatchers' workplaces. A dispatcher who manages rail transport will not be able to go to his workplace without standing in this frame to be facially identified and tested for alcohol, and will be able to start work only if the test is negative. Employees will also be tested for drugs occasionally.

A number of measures have been taken to eliminate the human factor errors where the passage of train compositions is manually regulated.

Karadjov reported that no impact assessment had been carried out on how the safety rules function since 2002. Such an assessment has been done, and changes are being worked out in a series of regulations, which are still to be updated, so that the safety measures are synchronised, he said.

Efforts were underway to secure the necessary funds to hire 44 inspectors. Cameras will be installed at 63 railway stations and railway stops. Cameras have been ordered for another 162 stations as well. Video surveillance is also planned at crossings that have only light or sound signals.