The Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Aleksandar Nikoloski, addressed the issue of the railway to Bulgaria in an interview with the weekly newspaper Focus. He claims that, as with the highway to Blace, the most difficult route was chosen in order to inflate the costs. According to him, the railway along Corridor 8 should be built more rationally. He also suggests that within seven years, a high-speed railway could be constructed along Corridor 10, where economic zones would be arranged like “Lego blocks.”

“The case has several elements. The first and key element is the projected cost: 24 million euros per kilometer.

“For comparison, the cost of a high-speed railway anywhere in Europe, operating at 200 kilometers per hour, is between 4 and 10 million euros, depending on the terrain. Here, for a railway that will run at only 60 kilometers per hour, it’s 24 million euros.

“Like with Blace, the most difficult route has been chosen. I don’t know if the public is aware, but the only way to build the third section is via a railway that resembles something out of a cowboy movie. The terrain is so mountainous and difficult that materials and workers can only be transported by rail. Trucks can’t access the site. It’s an unprecedented situation!

“A logical question for my predecessors is: why was it projected this way? Why are two tunnels under Kriva Palanka planned, in addition to a tunnel that leads nowhere? Not even Switzerland does that. I consider myself well-traveled, but nowhere in Europe or the world have I seen tunnels being built under cities. Tunnels go beside cities or through mountains, but never under cities,” said Nikoloski.