Railway Herald
The Bulgarian capital city of Sofia now enjoys the convenience of a modern Metro system. Trains run on 1435mm gauge standard track with side contacts to collect power at 825 volts DC. All the rolling stock on Lines 1 and 2 has been built by Metrovagonmarsh at Mytishchi near Moscow. The initial train sets are designated Type 81-717/714 (seen here), a design that dates back to around 1990. Metro services began in January 1998 on the first section from Lyulin to Konstantin Velichov through the western suburbs of the city. In recent years the network has seen steady expansion with three lines now fully operational in 2022. on Line 1 No. 1012 of the original Russian train sets pulls into Mladost 1 station heading westbound with a service towards the city centre on 14th June 2016.
Stephen Ginn
