Talgo started delivering the new Avril very high-speed trains to Renfe, following the completion of driver training and the reliability and run-in track tests. With almost 300,000 km of running in the last year, half of which in 2024 alone, the tests ensure the full compatibility of the rolling stock with all types of railway lines in Spain, including those linking Galicia, Asturias, Catalonia and Valencia.
Some 200 Talgo employees have been working over the last few months to meet the technical challenges associated with a train that incorporates a number of technologies that are completely new and unique in the world, in teams that include commissioning, verification and validation, engineering and maintenance.
The tests have also required the participation and coordination of teams from more than ten companies in the railway sector in Spain and two universities. The technical intensity of the process, which is now coming to an end, is reflected in the 700 train track-gauge changes made and the volumes of data recorded by the on-board sensor systems, with extensive files from around 500 journeys thoroughly analysed.
Avril very high-speed trains have a capacity for up to 581 passengers and thanks to the technology, they minimise energy consumption and multiply efficiency. As a result, they reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions and further strengthen rail’s position as the most sustainable mode of transport.
One of the outstanding features of this latest generation trains is that their 12-coach, 200-metre-long, single-deck units are 100% low-floor, at the same height as the platform, allowing passengers to easily access the train and move throughout its interior without steps or ramps. The trains offer an easy journey for all passengers, from parents with prams to passengers with bulky luggage or bicycles.
Renfe ordered 30 gauge-changing Avril trains. Talgo Avril is part of a highly flexible technological platform that allows each delivery to be adapted to the increasingly complex needs of the European rail market, with different blocks available depending on their internal commercial configuration, their ability to automatically change track gauges (Iberian and International), and their equipment to operate also north of the Pyrenees.
Thanks to these capacities, they can be used on almost the entire electrified rail network, bringing even closer the destinations not yet served by the new high-speed rail infrastructures and, in the future, also on international connections between Spain and France. Talgo Avril holds the world speed record on Iberian track-gauge: 360 km/h, reached on 7 September 2022 on the Ourense-Santiago de Compostela high-speed line in Galicia.
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