Railway Herald
SIEMENS Smarton 80-038 'Khan Krum' runs southbound through Iliyantsi on the glorious afternoon of 26th September 2024. Almost at it's destination it is assigned to the FAST 2612 (07:45) Varna to Sofia-Sever (Sofia-North) service offered by BDZ, the Bulgarian State run Railway. The livery applied to these Class 80 Smartrons is known as the 'GREEN FORCE' livery which is applied over the standard former factory SIEMENS blue finish. This livery was decided on by a public vote spread over a two week period, 'GREEN FORCE' attracting 9,861 votes from a total 29,218 entries. All 15 members of the class are named after Bulgarian Khans, Czars or Kings. Alongside each name is a QR code that one can scan with your smart phone and check out the history of the named leader. A nice touch.
Stephen Ginn
