| 1864 | The first sod is turned for making the Ruse – Varna railway line. The Turkish government had commissioned for it an English company managed by William Gladstone, a politician, and the Barkley brothers, civil engineers |
| 1866 | Official opening of the Ruse – Varna railway line |
| 1870 | Baron Hirsch starts the construction of the Constantinople – Belovo railway line |
| 1873 | Official opening of the Constantinople – Belovo railway lineThe National Liberation movement and railway revolutionaries: Todor Kableskov – station master at Belovo railway station, Zahari Stojanov – shunter at Tarnovo Sejmen (today’s Simeonovgrad) railway station, Ilarion Dragostinov – a telegraph operator at Ruse railway station, Georgi Ikonomov – a shunter at the railway stations in Ruse, Tarnovo Sejmen and Edirne, etc. |
| 1885 | The National Assembly passes the Railway Act, according to which railways in Bulgaria are state property and are operated by the state |
| 1888 | Stefan Stambolov’s government expropriates the Vakarel – Belovo railway line (built and previously operated by Vitalis) and starts operating it.On 1 August, the whole of the Caribrod – Sofia – Belovo railway line is opened for international traffic.The state buys off the Ruse – Varna railway line and startes operating it on 10 AugustThe Bulgarian State Railways are established, based on the Caribrod – Sofia – Belovo and Ruse – Varna railway lines. |
| 1912 | An independent Ministry of Railways, Post Offices and Telegraphs is established |
| 1922 | A State Railway School is established |
| 1950 | The Day of the Railwayman is officially declared – the first Sunday of August |
| 1952 | The sub-Balkan railway line is opened |
| 1963 | Diesel traction is introduced for train traffic;the first electrified line, Sofia – Plovdiv, enters into operation |
| 1964 | The first doubled track, Sindel – Varna, is completed |
| 1978 | Operations start on the Varna Ilicovsk ferry line |
| 2002 | On 1 January 2002, the new Railway Transport Act enters into force, passed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, according to which the National Company Bulgarian State Railways is split into two separate enterprises – a railway carrier (Bulgarian State Railways EAD) and an infrastructure enterprise (Railway Infrastructure National Company) |
