The new government in North Macedonia waved its finger at this project, says the historian.
I am glad that the railway, whose purpose is to collect and transport people, has brought us together to celebrate 115 years since the opening of the line to Kyustendil. This was stated by the historian Assoc. Angel Johnev, the BGNES correspondent from the region reported.
An exhibition dedicated to the 115th anniversary of the opening of the Sofia-Kyustendil railway line was opened in the lobby of the theatre in the town near Hisarluk.
Historian Associate Professor Angel Johnev talked about the vicissitudes of the construction of this railway line. According to him, the exhibition traces the difficult path of the idea of connecting Sofia, Kyustendil and Skopje by rail, which has a period of 150 years of inception and non-realization.
The funds for the construction of the railway line were borrowed from a French and Dutch bank, the rails were from England, the bridges were from Bavaria - Germany, the sleepers were from Serbia, the tunnelers and bridge builders were from Italy, Montenegrins worked on the line, hired workers from The Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria.
"We are talking about an inherently European enterprise, successfully implemented on July 16, 1910," Assoc. Johnev was emphatic.
Thus, according to him, for more than 110 years the railway has been waiting at the border for the train of our neighbours.
"Bulgaria made significant efforts to complete the line to Skopje during the two world wars on the Gueshevo-Kumanovo route, which cost less than half a billion leva at the time. "At the time of the existence of Yugoslavia, we cannot talk about the realization of the route, after the appearance of North Macedonia, 30 years have passed since the first sod of the Belyakovtsi-Deve bair route," recalled the historian.
According to him, things are not favourable internationally, the section from Kumanovo to Kriva Palanka is a construction site, and something is being worked on, but work has not yet started on the section from Kriva Palanka to Deve Bair.
"The new government in North Macedonia waved its finger at this project, it was very expensive, and on our side, there is no completed project for the modernization of the line from Radomir to Gueševo. We finish with a minor, but hope always remains, that's why I'm giving everyone present cold water," summed up Prof. Angel Johnev. | BGNES
