In North Macedonia, in the presence of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski and his Bulgarian counterpart Galab Donev, the foundation stone laying ceremony was held for the construction of the eastern part of the railway corridor 8, in the part from Kumanova to Kriva Palanka, near the Bulgarian border.

The project, which came to fruition after several decades, is part of the VIII Pan-European Corridor, a route that stretches about 1,500 kilometers from the Albanian port of Durres in the west, which is connected by sea to the Italian port of Bari, to the Bulgarian ports of Varna and Burgas in the east, AP reported.

The prime ministers of North Macedonia and Bulgaria confirmed today their determination that the railway connection between the two neighbors will be completed by 2030.

At this stage, there are only single lines in Albania and North Macedonia.

Links are missing at the western and eastern ends of the corridor in North Macedonia, while the Bulgarian part is completed.

The line that has just started to be built is called “East End” and includes 89 kilometers of railway within North Macedonia.

The works will be completed by the end of 2025 and include 5.5 kilometers of tunnels, railway bridges, overpasses, underpasses, and railway stations, as well as a new signaling and telecommunications system.

A part of “West End” will be built up to the border with Albania.

When the railway is completed, the annual volume of freight transport should increase by 20 percent by 2030, while more than 350,000 people will have access to modern means of transport.

Travel time, as well as air and noise pollution, will be reduced.