Plans for a suburban rail network to relieve road congestion in Plovdiv are to drawn up shortly, Minister of Transport & Communications Nikolay Sabev said during a visit to the city in April.

The ministry said 45 000 people travel to work by car in the city every morning, and this was making it increasingly difficult to get around. The rail network was potentially well placed to offer an alternative, but usage has been held back by the low frequency of services and limited rolling stock.

Funding from the National Recovery & Resilience Plan would be used to provide modern zero-emission rolling stock, with procurement to align with railway upgrading.

Representatives of local municipalities and industrial zones are to be asked to provide input to the development of plans for new stations, with a focus on developing multi-modal interchanges.