The start of the third subway line in Sofia is postponed until mid-summer. This is expected to happen in the months of July - August. It will along 8 km route from Krasno selo to Hadzhi Dimitar. This was stated by the mayor Yordanka Fandakova, who inspected the Hadzhi Dimitar metro station, part of the third line of the metro "Botevgradsko shose Blvd - Ovcha Kupel".
The reason for the delay is that Siemens has pulled out part of its team testing the new route because of the pandemic.
"Train tests are continuing on the first 8km stretch of the third metro line. They started in November and had to last for 6 months. However, due to an emergency in the last 2 months, part of the Siemens team has been withdrawn and tests are slower. We received a proposal from Siemens instead of releasing the section in two phases, as we planned for the first 5 km and then another 3 km, to release the entire section from Krasno selo to Hadji Dimitar sometime in July - August, Fandakova explained.
The last station on the third line - Hadzhi Dimitar will be used by 45,000 inhabitants of the Hadzhi Dimitar and Suha Reka neighborhoods. They will be able to reach the center in 3 to 5 minutes, and to "Krasno selo" - in 12 minutes.
"The fact is that in recent months the number of travelers has dropped significantly. We have about 76,000 people daily using the subway, with the usual 350,000 passengers. There were situations up to 6-7 times fewer passengers," Fandakova said.
It is expected that the tests of the route between the other 4 stations from the third line - from Krasno Selo to the ring road at Gorna Banya - to start soon.
