Lakatnik
Lakatnik is a small village located in Svoge Municipality, near the Lakatnik rocks. The village has a train station called Gara Lakatnik on the train line Sofia - Mezdra located 8 km north of the village. During the years the train station turned into in a separate settlement. Lakatnik will co-host the Bulgarian National Youth Games in August 2017; the other host villages will be Bov, Gara Bov and Gara Lakatnik. The cycling events will take part in the village
Kuwait
Kuwait the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia; as of 2016, Kuwait has a population of 4.5 million people: 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 3.2 million are expatriates. Expatriates account for 70% of the population. Oil reserves were discovered in commercial quantities in 1938. From 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an economic crisis following the stock market crash. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded, annexed, by Saddam's Iraq; the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by a military coalition led by the United States. Kuwait is a major non-NATO ally of the United States, it is a major ally of ASEAN, while maintaining a strong relationship with China. Kuwait is a constitutional sovereign state with a semi-democratic political system.
Kuwait has a high-income economy backed by the world's sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world. According to the World Bank, the country has the fourth highest per capita income; the Constitution was promulgated in 1962. Kuwait is home to the largest opera house in the Middle East; the Kuwait National Cultural District is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network. In 1613, the town of Kuwait was founded in modern-day Kuwait City. Administratively, it was a sheikhdom, ruled by local sheikhs. In 1716, the Bani Utub settled in Kuwait, which at this time was inhabited by a few fishermen and functioned as a fishing village. In the eighteenth century, Kuwait prospered and became the principal commercial center for the transit of goods between India, Muscat and Arabia. By the mid 1700s, Kuwait had established itself as the major trading route from the Persian Gulf to Aleppo. During the Persian siege of Basra in 1775–79, Iraqi merchants took refuge in Kuwait and were instrumental in the expansion of Kuwait's boat-building and trading activities.
As a result, Kuwait's maritime commerce boomed, as the Indian trade routes with Baghdad, Aleppo and Constantinople were diverted to Kuwait during this time. The East India Company was diverted to Kuwait in 1792; the East India Company secured the sea routes between Kuwait and the east coasts of Africa. After the Persians withdrew from Basra in 1779, Kuwait continued to attract trade away from Basra. Kuwait was the center of boat building in the Persian Gulf region. During the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, vessels made in Kuwait carried the bulk of trade between the ports of India, East Africa and the Red Sea. Kuwaiti ships were renowned throughout the Indian Ocean. Regional geopolitical turbulence helped foster economic prosperity in Kuwait in the second half of the 18th century; the biggest catalyst for much of Kuwait becoming prosperous was due to Basra's instability in the late 18th century. In the late 18th century, Kuwait functioned as a haven for Basra's merchants, who were fleeing Ottoman government persecution.
Kuwaitis developed a reputation as the best sailors in the Persian Gulf. In the 1890s, Kuwait began to feel threatened by the Ottoman empire. In a bid to address its security issues, the ruler, Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah signed an agreement with the British government in India, subsequently known as the Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement of 1899 and became a British protectorate; the Sheikhdom of Kuwait remained a British protectorate from 1899. Following the Kuwait–Najd War of 1919–20, Ibn Saud imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait from the years 1923 until 1937; the goal of the Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwait's territory as possible. At the Uqair conference in 1922, the boundaries of Kuwait and Najd were set. Ibn Saud persuaded Sir Percy Cox to give him two-thirds of Kuwait's territory. More than half of Kuwait was lost due to Uqair. After the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subjected to a Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi raiding; the Great Depression harmed Kuwait's economy.
International trading was one of Kuwait's main sources of income before oil. Kuwaiti merchants were intermediary merchants; as a result of the decline of European demand for goods from India and Africa, Kuwait's economy suffered. The decline in international trade resulted in an increase in gold smuggling by Kuwaiti ships to India; some Kuwaiti merchant families became rich from this smuggling. Kuwait's pearl industry collapsed as a result of the worldwide economic depression. At its height, Kuwait's pearl industry had led the world's luxury market sending out between 750 and 800 ships to meet the European elite's desire for pearls. During the economic depression, luxuries like pearls were in little demand; the Japanese invention of cultured pearls contributed to the collapse of Kuwait's pearl industry. Historian Hanna Batatu explains how the British threatened to take the Kurdish area and Mosul out of Iraq provided that King Faisal granted Britain control of the oil in the region. In 1938 the Kuwaiti Legislative Council unanimously approved a request for Kuwait’s reintegration with Iraq.
A year an armed uprising which had raised the integration banner as its objective was put down by the British. With the end of the world war, increasing need for oil across the world, Kuwait experienced a period of prosperity driven by oil and its liberal atmosphere; the period
Hemus motorway
The Hemus motorway or Haemus motorway, designated A2, is a built motorway in Bulgaria. Its planned length is 424 km, of which 161 km are in operation as of August 2015; the motorway in operation is divided into two sections — the first one links the capital Sofia with Yablanitsa, crossing Stara planina, the second segment connects Varna and Shumen. According to the plans, Hemus motorway would connect Sofia with the third-largest city of Varna, at the Black Sea coast, duplicating European route E70, European route E772 and European route E83; the Pravets–Yablanitsa section of the Hemus motorway was opened on 5 December 1999. Due to the mountainous terrain through the Stara Planina the section, 5.47 km in length with another 16 km reconstructed, features two viaducts and one tunnel, while the whole Sofia–Yablanitsa section has three more tunnels. The construction of the Pravets–Yablanitsa section began in the 1984 but ceased in the late 1980s due to lack of funds to be finished in 1998–1999; the 12.8 km section connecting Shumen with Kaspichan to the east was opened on 30 December 2005 and cost 77.6 million leva.
In July 2013 a segment of the motorway at Shumen opened. In August 2013 a 8.46 km segment, connecting the Sofia ring road and the Yana junction, opened to traffic. In August 2015, a 4.9 km segment, including the Belokopitovo interchange, was inaugurated. In January 2013 National Company "Strategic Infrastructure Projects", a state-run company, tendered feasibility study for the remaining sections of Hemus motorway. In 2014 NCSIP signed contracts for drawing conceptual designs for all 8 lots of the motorway. In January 2015, a tender for design and build of 2 lots, between Yablanitsa and the Pleven/Lovech road, has been announced by NCSIP. In 2016 NCSIP was closed, with all activities being transferred to the Roads Agency; the tender for construction of the Yablanitsa - Pleven/Lovech road was cancelled due to lack of secured financing and in 2016 a new tender for a shorter 9 km stretch between Yablanitsa and Boaza has been announced. Bebresh Viaduct, regarded as the highest motorway bridge in the Balkans with a clearance of 120 m, is part of the Hemus motorway.
The motorway is named after an ancient name of the Balkan Mountains. Hemus FS Summary.pdf at NCSIP
Septemvri–Dobrinishte narrow-gauge line
The Septemvri–Dobrinishte narrow-gauge line is the only operating 760 mm narrow-gauge line in Bulgaria. It is operated by Bulgarian State Railways; the line is used with four passenger trains running the length of the line in each direction per day. The journey takes five hours through the gorges between Rila and Rhodopes; the route leads from Septemvri on the mainline Sofia–Plovdiv to Dobrinishte, passing Velingrad, Yakoruda and Bansko, linking the western part of the Upper Thracian Plain with the Western Rhodopes and Pirin mountains. Due to the characteristics of the route through the mountains, the narrow-gauge line Septemvri–Dobrinishte is known as the Alpine railway in the Balkans. Avramovo station, situated at 1267 meters above the sea, is the highest station in the Balkans; the railway was built in several stages between 1945 with total length of 125 km. The Varvara–Pazardzhik branch line, closed in 2002, was 16.6 km long. The idea for a railway, serving the Rhodope Mountains dating from 1915, when three possible paths are represented.
In 1916 due to military reasons during WWI, the army wanted to link the town of Nevrokop to the railway network and started surveying the first section from Sarambey to Ladzhene. However, when the war ended, the work was stopped. In 1920, the surveying resumed, followed by construction in 1921. In the hard years after the war, the progress was poor, with work done by hand; the track reached Ladzhene in 1926, the section opened Aug 1, 1926 with three trains per week in each direction. The next short section to Chepino was completed on June 3, 1927; when Sarambey became the starting point of the line, the population of Pazardzhik feared their town would be away from the traffic and requested a branch of the new railway, completed and opened on Oct 27, 1928. This path was chosen to be the main and the railway became Pazardzhik - Chepino with a branch from Varvara - Pazardzhik - Sarambey; this period is short and the section remains a branch until its closing in 2002. Now the track to Pazardzhik is removed.
Construction of the hardest section, Chepino–Yakoruda continued up to 1937, when on 12th Dec it was opened for temporary service. The final opening was Jul 1939, together with the section Yakoruda -- Belitsa; the final sections Belitsa–Bansko and Bansko–Dobrinishte are opened on Mar 3, 1943 and Dec 9, 1945, the plan for railway to Gotse Delchev had been stopped. This first part is 39 km long, it starts at Septemvri. After straight 6 km long section in the plain, the route reaches station Varvara, the former junction with the removed branch to Pazardzhik; the route passes the river Chepinska and the road to Velingrad onto a steel bridge and continues on the left bank of the river. As a part of the road widening work, the bridge has to be replaced with new one. Along the gorge, the line passes stops Marko Nikolov, the river again and the road at manually operated level crossing, to reach station Dolene, where it continues in the opposite direction on the other side of the valley, climbing 246 m level displacement to drainage divide Chukata and station Kostandovo in 10.9 km.
Here is the maximum slope of the route of 32 ‰. After passing this station, the route declines to Velingrad valley. In the beginning there are stops Milevi skali at km 17.5 between Tsepina and Dolene and Dryanov dol between Dolene and Kostandovo. In the period of heavy traffic in 60s and 70s, Dryanov dol is extended with passing loop and becomes a station, but it is closed, together with Milevi skali. Tsepina had been station with passing loop and sidings, removed in 2003. All 10 tunnels on this part of the railway are between Marko Dolene. In April 1928 as a result of the Chirpan earthquake, a huge amount of rocks collapses over the track at km 11.7. A new tunnel Nr 2 is constructed to avoid the low radius curves of the temporary track around the collapse; the abandoned old tunnel is still existing next to the new one. It is visible from the road, but not from the train; the open track between tunnels Nr 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 is now covered to prevent another rock collapses on the route. This is the hardest section of Septemvri–Dobrinishte railway.
It is 45 km long and all four spirals, 25 remaining tunnels and the highest railway station on the Balkans are here. Beginning from Velingrad, through Velingrad south stop, the line starts to climb along the right side of river Ablanitsa, heading Ostrets stop and station Tsvetino. A few kilometers after Tsvetino, the route turns to the right through the valley of the small river Lyuta reka, reaching the former station, now minor stop Sveta Petka. Here the route starts climbing 224 m in 9.8 km distance to station Avramovo, the highest railway station on the Balkans at 1267 m above sea level. Just after Tunnel Nr 16, the track passes a stone arch bridge over the river and begins its four-level way on the north side of the valley through 16 tunnels, two spirals and one 180° turn; the line passes under itself two times in tunnels Nr 18 and 24. In this section, the train changes its traveling direction 6 times; the average incline is 30 ‰. The climbing ends at station Avramovo just after tunnel Nr 32, the longest one – 315 m.
This highest point is followed by long descent in the valley of river Dreshtenets. After the Smolevo stop, the line turns at the third spiral, passing under itself in tunnel Nr 34. Jus
Stara Zagora
Stara Zagora is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. It has a proud history illustrated by the many impressive ancient Roman buildings preserved in its centre; the name comes from the Slavic root star and the name of the medieval region of Zagore The original name was Beroe, changed to Ulpia Augusta Traiana by the Romans. From the 6th century the city was called Vereja and, from 784, Irenopolis in honour of the Byzantine empress Irene of Athens. In the Middle Ages it was called Boruj by the Bulgarians and Železnik; the Turks called it Eski Hisar and Eski Zagra, from which its current name derives, assigned in 1871. The original Thracian settlement dates from the 5-4th century BC when it was called Beroia; the city was founded by Phillip II of Macedon in 342 BC. Under the Roman Empire, the town was renamed Ulpia Augusta Traiana in honour of emperor Trajan; the city grew to its largest extent under Marcus Aurelius and became the second most important city in the Roman province of Thrace after Philippopolis.
Its status and importance is evidenced by the visits of several emperors including Septimius Severus and Diocletian. The Battle of Beroe was fought near the city in 250 resulting in a Gothic Victory, it was after this event that the city walls were doubled like other cities in the region. In the 2nd-3rd century the city had its own coin mint showing its importance. In 377, in the Gothic War, the Goths marched on Beroe to attack the Roman general Frigiderus but his scouts detected the invaders and he promptly withdrew to Illyria; the city was rebuilt by Justinian. John's Byzantine army, many of the captives, were settled as foederati within the Byzantine frontier. In 1208 the Bulgarians defeated the Latin Empire in the battle of Boruy fought nearby; the Ottomans conquered Stara Zagora in 1371. A grade school was built in 1840 and the town's name was changed to Zheleznik in 1854 instead of the Turkish Eskizağra, but was renamed once again to Stara Zagora in 1870, it was an administrative centre in Edirne Province before 1878 as "Zağra-i Atik".
After the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule in 1878, it became part of autonomous Eastern Rumelia as a department centre before the two Bulgarian states merged in 1886 as a result of the Unification of Bulgaria. Many of the monuments from the Roman city have been excavated and are visible in situ today and include: City walls The "Antique" Forum Roman city streets and buildings The Roman Baths 4th-6th c. public building with mosaics 4th c. private house with mosaics of Silenus with Bacchantes and of Dionysus’s Procession South city gate Thracian TombOverlooking the "antique" forum is an unusual building in the form of a monumental auditorium in the shape of a theatre. Stara Zagora is the administrative centre of the Stara Zagora Province, it is about 231 kilometres near the Bedechka river in the historic region of Thrace. The city is in an area of a transitional continental climate with a considerable subtropical influence; the average yearly temperature is about 13 °C. Stara Zagora was the biggest town in today's Bulgarian territory before liberation from Ottoman rule.
But the town was burned and destroyed by Turkish army during the Liberation war in 1877-1878. During the first decade after the liberation of Bulgaria, in the 1880s the population of Stara Zagora decreased and numbered about 16,000. Since it started growing decade by decade because of the migrants from the rural areas and the surrounding smaller towns, reaching its peak in the period 1989-1991 exceeding 160,000. After this time, the population has started decreasing because of the low birth rate. Stara Zagora is one of the richest cities in Bulgaria with much better economic situation than average for the Bulgarian provinces. According to the latest 2011 census data, individuals who declared their ethnic identity were distributed as follows: Bulgarians: 117,963 Gypsies: 5,430 Turks: 1,965 Others: 579 Indefinable: 617 Undeclared: 11,718 Total: 138,272 PFC Beroe Stara Zagora is a football club in Stara Zagora, it plays at Beroe stadium. The team is a member of the "A grupa" league. Beroe has won the Bulgarian Cup two times.
Historical sites Regional Historical Museum The Antique Forum Thracian Tomb The Roman Baths Roman mosaics of “Silenus with Bacchantes" and of Dionysus’s Procession The Samarsko Zname Monument Ayazmoto Park Defenders of Stara Zagora Memorial Complex Memorial House of Geo Milev The South Gate of Augusta Trajana The Opera House, built in 1925 Stara Zagora Transmitter with one of the few Blaw-Knox Towers in Europe Neolithic Dwellings Museum Bedechka - Gradinski Central City Part Makedonski know as Chumleka Dabrava Eastern Industrial Zone Geo Milev Golesh Industrial Zone Kazanski Kolyo Ganchev Lozenets Mitropolit Metodiy Kusev (Митрополит Методий Кусев - named after a
Yambol
Yambol is a city in southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace, it is spelled Jambol. The administrative centres of two municipalities are situated in Yambol. One is of the rural area of Tundzha Municipality and the other is of the homonymous Yambol Municipality that embraces the city itself. Yambol Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after Yambol; the area surrounding Yambol has been inhabited since the Neolithic. The ancient Thracian royal city of Kabile or Kabyle, dating from the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, was located 10 km from current-day Yambol, it contained one of the kings' palaces. The city was conquered by King Philip II of Macedon in 341 BCE and was re-established as an Ancient Greek polis. After the collapse of Alexander the Great’s empire in the 3rd century BCE, Kabile was ruled by the Ancient Thracians once again, it was conquered by the Romans in 71 BCE, incorporated into the Roman province of Thrace.
By 136 CE, Kabile was one of the largest Roman military camps in the region housing at least 600 soldiers. A large military officers' residence has been excavated in the archaeological park. Kabile was expanded by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 293 CE; the name evolved through Diampolis, Dinibouli and Diamboli to become Yambol. Kabile was conquered by the Goths in the 4th century CE and was destroyed by the Avars in 583; as the Slavs and Bulgars arrived in the Balkans in the Middle Ages, the fortress was contested by the First Bulgarian Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, becoming part of Bulgaria in 705 CE during the reign of Khan Tervel. It has been an important Bulgarian center since; the town expanded during the reign of Khan Omurtag of the First Bulgarian Empire, a new fortress was built. Its proximity to the border made it an important center for military purposes. During the reign of Boris I and Tsar Simeon, the first literary centers were established as part of the church. Books were studied in the town's churches.
During the reign of Tsar Kaloyan, the town again increased in importance due to the ongoing conflict between Bulgaria and the Crusaders. A major battle between Tsar Kaloyan and the crusaders happened in 1204 CE, about 80 kilometers south-west of the town, where Bulgaria defeated the crusaders in the battle of Adrianopole on 14 April 1205. During the Ottoman period, the town had a large Muslim population as well. Ottomans conquered it in 1373 CE, but a militarized, semi-independent Bulgarian population remained as voyinuks in the southern part of the city, it was renamed to "Yanbolu". It was kaza center, bound successively to Çirmen Sanjak of Rumelia Eyalet, Silistre Sanjak of Rumelia Eyalet, Silistre Sanjak of Silistre Eyalet, İslimye Sanjak of Edirne Vilayet, the department of Sliven in Eastern Rumelia before joining the Principality of Bulgaria in 1885; the predominant religion in Yambol is Orthodox Christianity, with a number of churches having been erected in 1888. These include the Holy Trinity church, the St George church, the St Nicholas cathedral, with the cathedral of St Nicholas being the largest.
Eastern Rite Catholic and Protestant religious buildings exist in Yambol. In modern times, Yambol was the center of Yambol Okolia starting in 1878 Yambol Okrug starting in 1948. In 1984 it became part of the newly formed Burgas Oblast. Since the early 1990s Yambol has been the center of Yambol Oblast; the city was affected by the turmoils of the early 20th century. Some Bulgarian refugees from East Thrace, attacked by the Turkish Army in their 1913 ethnic cleansing campaign against Thracian Bulgarians, settled in the town, its Greek population left during the exchange of populations. It hosted Bulgarian Macedonian refugees from the failed 1903 Ilinden Uprising. During World War I, Yambol hosted a base for Luftstreitkräfte zeppelins used for missions in Romania, Russia and Malta; the town was chosen by the Germans due to its favorable weather conditions. During the Balkan Wars, Yambol was the headquarters of the First Bulgarian Army, which played a vital role in the defeat of the Turks in Trace. In the early 21st century, the city became the first one in Bulgaria to use natural gas for domestic purposes.
The population of Yambol during the first decade after the liberation of Bulgaria exceeded 10,000. It was 11,241 in 1887. Since it started growing decade by decade because of migrants from rural areas and the surrounding smaller towns. Yambol's population reached its peak in the period of 1985-1992, exceeding 90,000. After this time, the population started decreasing rapidly; this was due to the poor economic situation in the Bulgarian provinces during the 1990s, which led to migration to the capital and abroad. As of February 2011, the city had a population of 74,132 inhabitants; the population of Tundzha Municipality, of which the city is the administrative center, was 98,287. Local industry has declined since the 1990s with many factories closing down; the city is the centre of its thriving agricultural surroundings. According to the latest 2011 census data, the individuals declared their ethnic identity were distributed as foll
Sofia Metro
The Sofia Metro is the rapid transit network servicing the Bulgarian capital city Sofia. It began operation on January 28, 1998; as of July 2016, the Sofia Metro consists of two interconnected lines, serving 35 stations, with a total route length of 40.0 kilometres being among the top 30 of the most extensive European metro systems. The Metro links the densely populated districts of Lyulin – Mladost and Nadezhda – Lozenets, serves the Sofia Airport. Planned since the 1960s, construction of the Metro was not launched until the late 1990s because the city did not experience an urgent need for an underground system in addition to the stalled construction due to lack of sufficient funding. Another factor was the depth at which the construction works had to be carried out: being one of the oldest cities in Europe, Sofia contains many historical layers underneath its central areas. Evidence of antiquity can be seen at the Serdika Station which exhibits a wealth of unearthed Thracian and Roman ruins and modern architecture.
During the construction of the enormous complex of the National Palace of Culture two stations forming part of the future Line 2 and their connecting tunnels were built. The construction of the system began from the route that sees the highest volumes of passenger traffic, that can reach up to 38,000 at rush hour. Due to an increased population, there are a large number of passengers heading toward the city center during weekday mornings, away from the city centre in the weekday evenings; the necessity of efficient public transport in the direction of the largest passenger flows and Sofia's environmental problems precipitated the start of the construction of the Sofia Metro. Following the ratification of a technical and economic report on the metro by the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria, the subsequently approved General City Plan, the general scheme for the development of the lines should consist of three diameters with extensions in the periphery, with a total length of 62 kilometres, 63 metro stations, a 1.1 million daily passenger capacity at the final stage of implementation.
The first 6.5 kilometres long section of line 1 consisting of five stations linking Slivnitsa Boulevard through Lyulin and K. Velichkov Boulevard was inaugurated on 28 January 1998. Opalchenska station entered into service on 17 September 1999 and Serdika station situated on St Nedelya Square followed on 31 October 2000, extending the total system length to 8.1 kilometres. The operational section of the line was further extended with a 1.8 kilometres long section, reaching Obelya housing estate in April 2003. The extension of Line 1 continued in 2005 with the start of the construction of 4.8 kilometres of tunnels and three stations linking St Nedelya Square and the Interped World Trade Center in Izgrev. 2006 saw the start of the construction of another section of the same line linking Izgrev and Mladost I housing estate. The completion of the first three stations was projected for the autumn of 2007, however as a result of various delays it was the second section from the first line that first entered into service on 8 May 2009, operating for a brief period of time separately from the north-west portion of the line.
The remaining section between Serdika and Vasil Levski stadium station entered into service on 7 September 2009 establishing an uninterrupted link between Obelya and Mladost 1 stations. The construction of the stretch from Mladost I to Business Park Sofia station began on 25 April 2013, was completed on 8 May 2015, it cost BGN 85,767,683, VAT exclusive, serves the majority of the second most densely populated area in Sofia. The second line of the Sofia Metro links the districts of Obelya, the city centre and Lozenets to the south of the city. Half of the construction cost was covered by the European Union, with the remaining part funded by the state and city budgets. Construction of the 6.4 km section between Nadezhda interchange and Lozenets district via Central railway station and the National Palace of Culture started on 14 December 2008. Work on the section between Obelya residential District and Nadezhda started in February 2010. Both sections of the line entered into service on 31 August 2012.
NDK and European Union stations and their connecting tunnels were completed during the construction of the National Palace of Culture and the redevelopment of the surrounding area in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The construction of Mladost 3 and Inter Expo Center - Tsarigradsko chaussée stations began on 15 February 2009 and was completed on 25 April 2012; the further extension to Sofia Airport comprising two underground and two overground stations and a length of 4.968 kilometres began in 2013, was completed on 2 April 2015 at the cost of BGN 136,757,630, VAT exclusive. This extension was operated as a branch of Line 1, but was soon transferred to Line 2, moving that line's terminus from Obelya to Sofia Airport. On 20 July 2016, the line was extended southward with 1.3 km and one station, located at Hladilnika neighbourhood. The construction took 2 years. Provisions have been made for the construction of future branch to Iliyantsi, starting from the existing junction located between Knyaginya Maria Luiza and Han Kubrat stations.
The 16 km long third line is planned to connect Ovcha Kupel neig
Trakia motorway - Sofia - Plovdiv - Stara Zagora - Yambol - Karnobat - Burgas (completed)
Hemus motorway - Sofia - Yablanitsa - Shumen - Varna (Yablanitsa to Shumen remaining)
Struma motorway - Sofia - Pernik - Blagoevgrad - Kulata (Greece) (under construction)
Maritsa motorway - Chirpan to Kapitan Andreevo (Turkey) (completed)
Cherno More motorway - Varna to Burgas (planned)
Europe motorway - Sofia - Kalotina (Serbia) (planned)
This article incorporates public domain material from "Bulgaria country profile" (pdf). Library of Congress Federal Research Division. October 2006. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
