Varna

The Varna-Ruse railway was officially opened in November 7, 1866 after having been built with British funds. Since it turned out that this is the route that significantly shortens the way between Central Europe and Istanbul, the flow of passengers and goods on the Varna-Ruse railway increased very quickly. Initially, the speed of the trains was slow. Precautionary measures have been taken, because the ground beneath the rails had not yet subsided enough. In the spring of 1867 the company maintaining the railway entered into contract with the Austrian Danube Company, which operated the traffic on the Lower Danube, as well as with ‘Austrian Lloyd Trieste’, which operated the navigation between Varna and Constantinople, in order to coordinate the railway’s traffic with them.

Twenty years earlier the same route had been envisaged for the construction of a stage-coach line between Varna and Ruse, as the project had been initiated by the brothers Tedeschi in the spring of 1847.^[1]

After 1878 the Bulgarian Principality inherited from the Ottoman Empire a debt of 3 500 000 francs to be paid to the British company that had built the Ruse-Varna railway. The railway exploitation turned to be exceptionally unprofitable and was in need of reconstruction, according to F. Kanitz^[2].

The railway between Varna and the village of Gebedzhe (the persent day town of Beloslav) was opened in 1898 and the Varna-Sofia line – on November 8, 1899.

[1] Русев, И. Варна през 40-те години на XIX в. Консулското присъствие, интересни събития и проекти в града, отразени в докладите и кореспонденцията на френския вицеконсул Франсоа-Гюстав Олив. – Известия на народния музей – Варна, Т. XLII (LVII), Варна, 2006, с. 96–136.

[2] Каниц, Ф. Дунавска България и Балканът. Историческо-географско-етнографически пътеписни проучвания от 1860 до 1879 г. Т. ІІІ, София, 1995, с. 225.

References

Bibliography:
Библиография:

Русев, И. Варна през 40-те години на XIX в. Консулското присъствие, интересни събития и проекти в града, отразени в докладите и кореспонденцията на френския вицеконсул Франсоа-Гюстав Олив. – Известия на народния музей – Варна, Т. XLII (LVII), Варна, 2006, с. 96–136.

Каниц, Ф. Дунавска България и Балканът. Историческо-географско-етнографически пътеписни проучвания от 1860 до 1879 г. Т. ІІІ, София, 1995, с. 225.