The only of the kind electrocontact wielding works in Shoumen was modernised with funding by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications. The long-term credit extended by IBRD to the works amounted to about USD 8m; the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications invested BGN 1m. According to the company's experts, the modernisation and the introduction of new technologies made the Shoumen works the most up-to-date of its kind in Southeastern Europe