Bulgaria became part of the European Rail Freight Corridor 7 "Orient" (Prague - Vienna / Bratislava - Budapest - Bucharest - Constanta - Vidin - Sofia - Thessaloniki – Athens), which began operating on 8th November. Starting in Prague and ending in Athens, the corridor serves to connect the 7 countries of Central and Southeastern Europe to the EU and Asia through the ports of the Black and Aegean seas.
The track is one of the 9 railroad freight corridors designed by the EU which are called RFC corridors. The purpose of those is to increase the competitiveness of freight trains by improving the conditions for the passage of a national rail networks in each other.
The start of operation of the rail freight corridor № 7 was given with the launch of a special software on the first prearranged route, which is between Prague (Czech Republic) and Curtici (Romania). It will be operated by the company "Prvá Slovenská Zelezničná".