At the end of March 2004 two locomotives class 44 finally arrived in Bulgaria after undergoing modernisation and thyristorisation in the Koncar electric locomotive factory in Croatia. The machines originally produced by Skoda, now also have a new livery, different sets of headlights and taillights and have had the side vents along their body removed. The cabin is air-conditioned and the typical for the Koncar factory white unit can be seen in front of the pantograph. In the photo is locomotive 44-304-4 stabled in the depot Poduene in Sofia behind the other modernised locomotive 44-345-7. The picture was taken on 3 April 2004 and at that time the modernised machines were not officially put in service yet as they still had to undergo some tests.

Photo and scan by Miroslav Georgiev (Miroslav_SG@all.bg) - thanks to Julien Nicolas