Talgo: A Train Ahead of the Curve

It is not possible to explore Talgo's history without mentioning 2 of its indisputable champions: the engineer Alejandro Goicoechea (first on the left), inventor of the train; and José Luis de Oriol (on the right of the image), whose financial support made it possible. It is said that when Goicoechea witnessed an accident in 1932 involving the La Robla mail train, and saw the injuries that passengers sustained from splinters and pieces of wood flying from the coaches, he resolved to design a vehicle made entirely from metal, which would be both lightweight and robust.

With the help of some laborers from the La Robla Railway, and making use of the remains of some old Russian trucks, Goicoechea began the construction of some peculiar-looking frames in the shape of an elongated isosceles triangle. They formed an articulated train, with the vertex of each triangle supported at the center point of the base of the preceding one, and wheels that rotated independently on the bases of the triangles. It was a kind of "guided triangle" that allowed the wheels to turn parallel to the track. No pictures of these initial structures—which were similar to tricycles—remain, but there are some of those that were later produced for the Iberian-gauge railway network.

Following the preliminary tests, Goicoechea needed financial assistance to build his prototype lightweight train. This assistance was provided by José Luis de Oriol, who was interested in Goicoechea's ideas and facilitated the agreement that established Patentes Talgo as a company. Talgo is an acronym formed from the Spanish for "Goicoechea Oriol Lightweight Articulated Train." It combines Goicoechea's enterprising spirit and belief in the technological renovation of the railway with Oriol's entrepreneurship, in the context of an industrial sector that had suffered greatly as a result of the Spanish Civil War. Once the company was established, testing continued on the base structure, leading to the construction of an actual train: the prototype known as Talgo I.

After several years of testing, the time had come to translate the original idea of the Talgo I test into an improved version that would provide the first commercial services. However, the economic problems that were affecting Spain and the rest Europe (which was in ruins by the mid-1940s), as well as the need for the most advanced design and construction techniques, meant that Spain was obliged to turn to the United States. It awarded the contract for construction of the new train to the US company American Car and Foundry.

After a careful design process, based in part on a version created by ACF for the North American market, Talgo III was brought into service between Madrid and Barcelona in August 1964. The coaches on this train were slightly longer and its structure no longer had the characteristic triangular shape. Instead, it was supported on sets of independently rotating wheels arranged in pairs, known as "wheelsets."

The main problem for the Spanish railways in establishing international services was undoubtedly the differing gauge width on either side of the Pyrenees. Talgo, showing its capacity for innovation once again, developed a system of variable-gauge vehicles based on the Talgo III coaches, which allowed the first international Talgo (the Catalan Talgo) to be brought into service between Barcelona and Geneva from 1969. This would pave the way for the introduction of overnight services between Barcelona and Paris, and Madrid and Paris. This same system is currently used between Moscow and Berlin.

The features of the Spanish rail network—a consequence of the difficulties caused by the Iberian Peninsula's mountainous terrain—are a serious hindrance to achieving high speed. The action of centrifugal force on curves with a smaller radius, together with the flexibility in the vehicles' suspension, was uncomfortable for passengers when traveling at greater speeds. Talgo again came up with an innovative solution that would allow for higher speeds without affecting passenger comfort: the Talgo Pendular.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Talgo—which until that point had focused exclusively on the production of coaches rather than locomotives—began to develop a more complete product that included a locomotive. The design of these locomotives incorporated the automatic variable gauge system, which meant that they could be used on standard-gauge European tracks as well as Renfe-gauge tracks, at a maximum speed of 155 miles per hour. This train was called Talgo XXI.

In 1988 the decision to build and use the new high-speed line between Madrid and Seville prompted Talgo to begin work on the production of trains capable of reaching, and even exceeding, 186 miles per hour. However, until that point, Talgo had concentrated on producing passenger coaches rather than locomotive engines. As a result, it was initially limited to modifying its coaches so that they were capable of traveling at high speed. It was not until 1998 that, in order to qualify for Renfe's invitation to tender for the contract to run the Madrid-Barcelona line, it would reach an agreement with Adtranz to develop a high-speed power head.

One of the most recent challenges in high-speed rail systems has been accommodating increasing numbers of passengers on lines that are often full to capacity, at prices that are competitive compared with other means of transport. Talgo's latest innovation is AVRIL (an acronym for "High-Speed Lightweight Independent Wheel" in Spanish.)