Bulgaria and North Macedonia Aim to Complete Cross-Border Railway Tunnel by 2030

Bulgaria and North Macedonia have agreed to accelerate coordination on the construction of the cross-border railway tunnel within Pan-European Transport Corridor VIII, with completion expected by 2030. As the next practical step, the two countries will establish a joint committee to coordinate the preparation, construction, and future operation of the facility. This was announced by Bulgaria’s Ministry of Transport.

Corridor VIII is one of the key infrastructure routes in Southeastern Europe, designed to connect the Adriatic and Black Seas through Albania, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria. The total length of the railway line is 1,220 km, of which 747 km runs through Bulgarian territory.

The Bulgarian side has already divided the modernization of its section into four projects. The total volume of investment is estimated at more than EUR 1.2 billion. The National Railway Infrastructure Company has commissioned the design of the full reconstruction of the section for train speeds of up to 160 km/h.

One of the largest stages is the reconstruction of the Sofia–Pernik–Radomir section. In December, a consortium including Bulgarian companies Interconnecta and SA.IE was selected to carry out works worth BGN 421.3 million. The construction of the double-track line is expected to be completed by mid-2029. Another strategic section, from Gyueshevo to the border with North Macedonia, will be implemented by a consortium including Trace Group Hold and VDH. Its cost is estimated at nearly BGN 100 million.

On the North Macedonian side, the construction of the railway line from Kumanovo to the Bulgarian border is expected to require around EUR 810 million in investment. In Albania, the total cost of railway infrastructure within Corridor VIII is estimated at EUR 291 million. Following capital repairs, the government plans to open the 34-km section linking Durrës with the central city of Rrogozhinë in 2028.

IDR Comment

The renewed momentum behind Corridor VIII reflects the gradual return of the Balkans to the logic of an integrated transport space, in which cross-border infrastructure is viewed not only as a mobility asset, but also as an instrument of geo-economic and geopolitical stabilization. The agreement between Bulgaria and North Macedonia to jointly coordinate tunnel construction is particularly important, since the lack of synchronization between national segments has long remained one of the main barriers to completing Corridor VIII.

In the broader regional context, this project strengthens east-west connectivity in Southeastern Europe and creates additional preconditions for the redistribution of logistics flows between the Adriatic ports, the Balkans, and the Black Sea basin. For the Lower Danube states, including Ukraine, the development of Corridor VIII is an important indicator of how the EU and candidate countries are shaping a new architecture of resilient transport routes capable of reducing dependence on vulnerable or overloaded corridors.

Against the backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the growing emphasis on logistics diversification in Europe, the completion of Corridor VIII has not only economic but also strategic significance. It has the potential to expand the network of multimodal links between the Balkans, the Danube, and the Black Sea, which in the long run may create new opportunities for integrating Ukrainian transport routes into broader Southern European and Mediterranean supply chains.