Corridor 8, the long and winding road

Decades after it was designed, Corridor 8 - an infrastructure axis created to connect the Black Sea with the Adriatic through Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania and promote economic development and regional cooperation - remains a puzzle to be solved

“Corridor 8, in my opinion, is unlikely to be ever completed. I think the Russians will not allow it […] It is a game of political influence. Perhaps the big players will allow some goods to be transported, just enough for the corridor to be mentioned here and there. But in reality, it will remain just a dream”. 

These are not the words of an expert in logistics or international politics, but those of a simple worker at the port of Burgas, in one of the opening scenes of “Corridor 8”, a 2008 documentary that follows the path of the pan-European corridor, one year after Bulgaria joined the European Union. 

The documentary by well-known director Boris Despodov followed through individual stories the route of the Corridor 8, a road and railway infrastructure conceived in the first half of the 90s to connect by land the shores of the Black Sea and the Adriatic through Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania, to eventually reach the Italian port cities of Bari and Brindisi. 

In the film, many of the quotes captured by the camera - often imbued with witty Balkan irony - are still very up-to-date. Whether or not Russia has a hand in it, Corridor 8 remains to this day a puzzle of pieces still waiting to be finally connected to one another.

While there have been several steps forward at the national level, such as the recent opening of the Kumanovo - Beljanovce railway line in North Macedonia, the overall framework of the project remains largely incomplete, especially in the sections that cross the borders of the countries involved. 

Each state has followed its own strategy and used different types of financing in recent years: as a result, transporting people and goods from the shores of the Adriatic to the Black Sea - both by road or railway - remains impossible or very complicated, with travel times and infrastructure limitations that make Corridor 8 an inconvenient and little-used option.

At the official level, the completion of the corridor remains a priority for the governments of Sofia, Skopje and Tirana, as a tool of modernisation and cooperation able to bring visible benefits to a region that remained on the margins of economic development in Europe. 

The slowness and indecision in its implementation, however, eventually risk emptying the project of its potential.

Bulgaria, a still incomplete job

A full member of the EU since 2007, Bulgaria was expected to take a leading role in the implementation of Corridor 8. And indeed, much of the corridor's route on Bulgarian territory, both in terms of road and rail infrastructure, has been completed. However, in terms of its overall functionality, Corridor 8, remains a dream far from being realised.

Of the entire route, 52% of the road infrastructure and 55% of the railway infrastructure are located on Bulgarian territory. In the years following the country's accession to the EU, the main east-west road axis, the "Trakiya" motorway connecting Sofia to Burgas, was eventually completed, with the substantial financial contribution of European funds.

“And when it comes to the railway network, work is currently underway to complete the modernisation of the Sofia-Burgas line”, says to OBCT Lyudmil Ivanov, expert in management of railway transport. 

“The route was supposed to be completed in 2023, but work has been slowed down by various factors, especially the difficulty in completing the longest tunnel on the route, entrusted to a consortium of Turkish companies. Anyway, it is realistic to think that by 2029-2030 this section will be completed, allowing trains in transit to travel along it at 160 km/h, while ensuring modern safety standards”, says Ivanov.

When the line is completed, travelling from the capital Sofia to Burgas should take less than four hours, compared to today’s six and a half hours.

The situation, however, is much less rosy on the stretch from Sofia to the border with North Macedonia. Here, in fact, the technical difficulties due to the challenging and mountainous terrain are inextricably mixed with the complicated political relations between Sofia and Skopje.

As for road connections, in 2022 the Bulgarian Road Infrastructure Agency launched the procedure for the design of a new highway that, from the Bulgarian-Macedonian border, should reach the town of Dupnitsa, where it would connect to the existing "Struma" highway, which reaches the Greek border from Sofia. However, a possible start date of the works has not been announced yet .

At the moment, the road connecting the capital Sofia to the Macedonian border, passing through the towns of Pernik and Kyustendil, is categorised as "first class", i.e. as a road for fast transit over long distances.

As for rail connections, the situation is even more complex. The section from the capital Sofia to the city of Radomir is already electrified, but it needs major modernisation to reach modern standards of transport of people and goods.

The section from Radomir to the Macedonian border - 72 kilometers in total - according to a project from 2011, should be covered by a new route, which includes the excavation of imposing tunnels and viaducts. 

At the time, due to technical difficulties, the cost of the work was estimated at around 450 million euros, a figure that is now destined to grow dramatically, given the increase in costs. Currently, a short stretch of railway, about 2.5 kilometers, from the village of Gyueshevo to the Macedonian border is missing.

“Given the current uncertainty about the availability of economic resources, it is difficult to say when the works for the completion and modernisation of the Bulgarian line from Sofia to the Macedonian border could be completed”, says Ivanov.

More than the mountains, however, the troubled political relations between Bulgaria and North Macedonia appear to be the most difficult obstacles to overcome. In 2017, with the signing of a good-neighbourly treaty between then-Prime Ministers Boyko Borisov and Zoran Zaev, the climate was optimistic. In the agreement itself, the year 2027 was indicated as the deadline for completing the railway line between Sofia and Skopje.

Two years later, it was the current Bulgarian Prime Minister and then Transport Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov who triumphantly announced that by 2025 it would take just one hour to travel by train between the two capitals.

On the same occasion, Zhelyazkov confirmed Bulgaria's choice to focus on the road connection from Dupnitsa to the border, but noted less interest from North Macedonia in this chapter. "For us, however, the priority remains the railway connection between Bulgaria and North Macedonia", the minister concluded.

However, it soon became clear that Zhelyazkov's promises would not come true in time. In 2021, a new trilateral memorandum was signed by Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Albania on Corridor 8.

“The memorandum precisely identified the routes and infrastructure to be completed, and 2030 was set as the deadline for final implementation. Unfortunately, this goal today seems rather difficult to achieve, due to political decisions” says to OBCT Hristo Aleksiev, the then minister of Transport who signed the document on behalf of Sofia. 

“I am referring above all to the doubts expressed by the government of Skopje, which in recent months seems to have questioned the priority level of Corridor 8”, continues Aleksiev.

2025 has started with mixed signals. In January, Sofia proposed to Skopje to sign an agreement for the design, construction and use of a railway tunnel that would connect the two networks at the Gyueshevo-Deve Bair border crossing. 

In March, however, the Bulgarian government announced changes to the "transport connection 2020-2027" programme, which appears to have abandoned plans to modernise the Sofia-Pernik and Pernik-Radomir sections, which were sacrificed due to financial constraints to the detriment of the completion of the section leading to Burgas and the Black Sea, and for which 500 million euros had initially been allocated.

“I believe that this decision is mainly of a technical nature, perhaps with the idea of ​​optimising the implementation of projects and transport infrastructures included in European programmes. From a geostrategic point of view, however, I believe it was a wrong decision”, says Aleksiev.

North Macedonia and Albania, far from being connected

The last tangible progress along the route of the corridor, as mentioned earlier, was recorded in North Macedonia, with the inauguration of the 30 kilometers long modernised Kumanovo - Beljanovce railway section, on the route leading to the Bulgarian border, officially announced by Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski on January 28, 2025. 

The Kumanovo – Beljakovce is just the first section of the future 90 km line from Kumanovo to the border with Bulgaria. The next sections to reach the neighbouring country include the 34 km Beljakovce – Kriva Palanka and the 24 km Kriva Palanka – Deve Bair sections.

“The second section will be completed within the deadline stipulated in the contract. In addition, we will launch the tender procedure for the third section, which will make us fully connected to our eastern neighbouring countries”, announced Hristijan Mickoski during his Kumanovo - Beljanovce inauguration speech.

Despite the important step forward, however, experts advise against exaggerating optimistic forecasts. “The Kumanovo - Beljanovce railway section had already been built and it needed to be modernised, while some bridges needed to be built. And it took more than a decade”, says professor Zoran Krakutovski from the Department of Railways at the Faculty of Civil Engineering-Skopje at University of Sts. Cyril and Methodius. 

According to Krakutovski, the slowness of construction can be explained by factors such as bureaucratic delays, irregular tender procedures and improper choice of companies entrusted with the works.

“If I could make decisions, I’d choose reputable companies, without improvising. The project is expensive anyway, regardless of whether they ask for more, however, if we want it to be finished, we really need to talk to serious companies and serious companies to build this. Especially the third section, at 66 kilometers, from Kriva Palanka to the border and the joint tunnel foreseen to cross the border with Bulgaria”, concludes Krakutovski. 

At the moment, it is extremely difficult to predict if and when the section in question will actually be completed. And of course, one must not forget the work needed to proceed in the opposite direction, towards Albania, with the modernisation of the Skopje - Kicevo railway line, and the connection works with the Albanian network.

And Albania is currently the country where the work on Corridor 8 is most behind schedule: the entire implementation of the project, according to Albanian journalist Gjon Rakipi, "tells a cautionary tale of lost opportunity and systemic dysfunction".

Among the completed works we can mention the SH2 corridor from Durrës to Tirana, and the A3 motorway between Tirana and Elbasan, completed in 2013. 

For the rest, the route from Elbasan to the North Macedonian border “remains mired in delays and partial construction”, while a key infrastructure, the Tirana Outer Ring, is still far from being completed.

Albania’s rail system, concludes Rakipi, “is in even worse shape, an aging relic from the 20th century with minimal commercial use and no functional cross-border links.” 

Apart from the lack of funding, governance is situated at the root of the problem: in Albania, many infrastructural projects are marred by bad management and corruption allegations. 

“The Tirana–Elbasan highway, for instance, infamously ran 80% over budget and led to a €44 million penalty after international arbitration. Land expropriation disputes and lax environmental assessments add another layer of dysfunction”, concludes Rakipi.

Geopolitical competition

Corridor 8 was born above all as a tool for economic development and regional cooperation: with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the transformation of the Black Sea into a conflict area, geopolitical and strategic considerations could increasingly weigh on its future development.

According to Ardian Hackaj, Research Director at the Cooperation and Development Institute in Albania, “Corridor VIII currently receives significant attention from both the [Albanian] government and the EU, largely because of its profile in terms of security and resilience in Southeastern Europe, a heightened focus resulting from the war in Ukraine and the EU's reorientation toward defense and security.”

“Bearing in mind that the Black Sea has become a conflict zone in recent years - due to the war in Ukraine - but also of central geo-strategic importance, I believe that a lo

gistical alternative that unites the Adriatic and the Black Sea through NATO countries is important”, adds Hristo Aleksiev.

In addition to the current concerns, there are also long-term strategic considerations and competitions. One of the oldest in the Balkans concerns the diverging interests between the east-west axis, traditionally supported by Bulgaria, and the north-south axis, seen as an expression of the interests of Greece and Serbia, with North Macedonia as the vital hub of both systems. 

It is therefore no coincidence that the current corridor 8 (east-west) is seen by many analysts as a project in competition with another of the corridors, number 10, which crosses the Balkan peninsula from north to south. 

According to Aleksiev, a new international player is participating in the competition today, Beijing which in recent years has visibly strengthened its positions in the region, acquiring control of the port of Piraeus and financing many transport infrastructures to connect it to the rich central European markets.

“Serbia is pushing for Corridor 10 to be a priority. However, there is a risk that Chinese interests and investments will also penetrate that axis. At the moment Beijing builds and finances a good part of Serbia's road and railway infrastructure, through loans that create a subordinate relationship of Belgrade towards China. I would therefore not be surprised if Beijing itself is behind the push to give priority to Corridor 10”. 

“Given the growing tension over customs tariffs and logistics”, concluded the former Transport minister, “it seems clear to me that we need to think very carefully about which interests will prevail in the development of the region”.

Accustomed to the long lead times of railway planning, expert Lyudmil Ivanov, however, recalls that if the opportunities opened up by the completion of large infrastructure axes are apparent, it is less difficult to predict which actors will be able to take concrete advantage of them in the future.

“It is difficult to expect the completion of the railway line along Corridor 8 before 2035-40. We are talking about 10-15 years, an eternity in geopolitical terms. It took the new US administration of Donald Trump just a few weeks to call into question many positions and alliances that were taken for granted until yesterday”.

Aleksandar Samardjiev and Gjon Rakipi contributed to the production of this story

This article was published in the framework of PULSE, a European initiative coordinated by OBCT that supports cross-border journalistic collaborations.