Bulmarket Group has invested €60 million to revive the former locomotive and wagon workshop in Ruse, creating a freight-wagon manufacturing and rolling-stock maintenance centre on one of Bulgaria's most strategic freight corridors.

The restored complex, anchored by operating company LVZ 1866, can now handle more than 1,000 wagons and 200 locomotives annually. It sits on a 176,000-square-metre site with roughly 10 kilometres of internal railway tracks and workshops covering more than 38,000 square metres.

The deal matters commercially for a carrier that runs a sizeable fleet. Bulmarket, Bulgaria's first private railway operator, operates more than 1,500 freight wagons and over 100 locomotives, with rail operations extending into Romania and Serbia. The Ruse facility gives it an in-house maintenance base close to international freight corridors, cutting dependence on external rolling-stock shops while opening capacity for third-party customers.

What does the investment cover?

Bulmarket acquired the former Locomotive and Wagon Plant (LVZ) site in December 2020, after the historic factory ceased operations in 2013. Phased reconstruction began in 2023. Of the complex's 53,000-plus square metres of built-up space, around 31,000 square metres have been substantially renovated and modernised.

Seven companies already operate at the site, employing more than 210 people. Bulmarket aims to create around 600 specialised jobs at the industrial park over time.

The wider investment includes €17 million of funding from Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Is wagon production restarting?

Yes — and it is the most significant new capacity. LVZ 1866 certified its first freight wagon for production in 2025 and is now developing platform, covered and specialised wagons, along with tank wagons for fuel and other products.

Tank wagon production will start with an initial batch of five vehicles, eventually scaling to 20 wagons a month on a single shift. For shippers moving fuel and liquid cargoes on Balkan and Danube-corridor routes, that adds a regional supply option for rolling stock at a time when European wagon demand remains tight.

LVZ 1866's core business covers:

• repair, modernisation and manufacture of freight wagons;
• maintenance and overhaul of diesel and electric locomotives.

Why Ruse?

The location is the point. Situated on the Danube opposite Giurgiu, Ruse is Bulgaria's main rail and road gateway to Romania and a strategic node for north-south and east-west freight flows. That positions the restored complex as a maintenance and manufacturing base directly on the corridors where Bulmarket and other operators run their fleets.

The site also carries more than 150 years of industrial history. A locomotive maintenance workshop was established in Ruse in 1866 in connection with the first Bulgarian railway between Ruse and Varna. The workshop grew into a major locomotive and wagon repair centre before closing in 2013.

With wagon certification secured in 2025, tank wagon batches planned, and capacity for 1,000 wagons a year already in place, Bulmarket's next milestone is scaling production toward 20 tank wagons a month as it builds out the integrated rail-freight operation.