DB Schenker Rail Bulgaria EOOD, founded at the start of this year, celebrated its grand opening in Pirdop, Bulgaria. By expanding its network, DB Schenker Rail now has its own national company in the growing Southeast Europe region. The company also received a traction license for the Bulgarian rail network. The license is an important milestone for establishing DB Schenker Rail Bulgaria EOOD as an independent railroad company in the Bulgarian transportation market.

"Now that we have a traction license, we can continue to expand our range of continuous transports in Southeast Europe and offer our customers transportation solutions geared toward their needs," said Hans-Georg Werner, Member of the Management Board of DB Schenker Rail responsible for Region East. The traction license enables DB Schenker Rail Bulgaria EOOD to operate rail transports in Bulgaria independently in addition to the industrial shunting services it has offered to date. The first transports are scheduled to begin in June for Europe's largest copper producer, Aurubis. In the future, DB Schenker Rail Bulgaria EOOD will also be able to offer customers extensive traction services.

"Integrating DB Schenker Bulgaria EOOD into the DB Schenker Rail network will allow the different national companies to benefit from synergies, for example in asset management," said Werner. "We have already been able to use locomotives from Denmark and Germany to upgrade the vehicle pool, which gives us the opportunity to expand the locomotive and car pools in Bulgaria."

The company, which was founded in 2002 as a subsidiary of Logistic Services Danubius SRL, currently has around 150 employees and its own electric and diesel shunting and main-line locomotives. DB Schenker Rail Bulgaria EOOD is headquartered in Pirdop and has multiple shunting sites throughout Bulgaria.