Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Grozdan Karadjov has rejected accusations from North Macedonian Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski that Sofia is failing to take concrete steps toward completing a long-delayed railway connection as part of Pan-European Corridor VIII.
“We’ve sent the agreement—where is Nikoloski to sign it? While he talks, the train has already passed through Pernik, Radomir, and reached Kyustendil. Now it’s waiting at Gyueshevo for the Macedonian side,” Karadjov told Bulgaria’s national broadcaster BNT, according to news agency BGNES.
Karadjov said that 90% of the railway segment between Radomir and Gyueshevo will be entirely new, allowing train speeds of up to 160 km/h. “In 2032, when we have a high-speed train, I’ll be asking if the other side even has a tunnel,” he added, alluding to delays in construction on the Macedonian side.
Nikoloski earlier this week said that “Bulgaria clearly lacks the political will to build the railway,” citing more than 15 official communications from Skopje that have gone unanswered. “We are taking action; they’re offering only words,” he told national broadcaster MRT.
The North Macedonian government confirmed it has received Bulgaria’s draft agreement for the joint rail construction and has formed a working group to review it. However, Nikoloski noted that several contentious points remain and called for direct negotiations.
He added that Skopje is reluctant to invest in a tunnel that, as he put it, “leads nowhere,” criticizing Sofia’s decision to exclude the railway segment between Pernik and Gyueshevo from the second phase of the project.
Nikoloski also warned that Bulgaria is developing an alternative transit route—via Bosilegrad and the Struma River corridor—that could marginalize North Macedonia in regional infrastructure planning. “If that plan succeeds, we’ll become a dead-end on the Balkan map,” he said.
In January, Bulgaria submitted a proposal to Skopje for a cross-border rail tunnel agreement outlining technical, legal, and financial terms. Sofia said it is ready to begin talks immediately.
The first 31-kilometer phase of the rail link on the Macedonian side was inaugurated in January. The second phase, extending to Kriva Palanka, is 27.3% complete, with a targeted completion date of 2026.
Both countries have held two rounds of talks on the third phase of the project, with the most recent meeting in October yielding an agreement to develop a joint plan and conduct a cost review.
