Talgo: Испанский производитель поездов

Railway rolling stock manufacturer

Talgo (officially Patentes Talgo, SAU) is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high speed passenger trains. Talgo is an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (English: Lightweight articulated train Goicoechea Oriol). The company was founded by Alejandro Goicoechea and José Luis Oriol. It was first incorporated in 1942.

The creation of Talgo can be largely credited to the work of Alejandro Goicoechea and José Luis Oriol. During the late 1940s, Talgo came to recognise that Spain, and the wider European continent, were in a poor economic condition following the Second World War and so were unlikely to be customers for new rolling stock from an unproven manufacturer. Furthermore, the company was keen to acquire advanced technical knowledge and designs, so a favourable agreement was struck with American Car and Foundry (ACF) to collaborate on the manufacture of the Talgo II in the United States. By 2001, Talgo was reportedly spending between 10 and 12 percent of its revenues on various research and development programmes. On 12 May 1999, Talgo announced it had signed a deal to acquire the Finnish rolling stock manufacturer Transtech Oy, which it subsequently reorganised as the wholly owned subsidiary Talgo Oy. In March 2007, Talgo sold its shares in Talgo Oy to a combination of its local management and other Finnish investors, after which the Transtech name was readopted. During the 2010s, it was decided that Talgo would be reorganised as a public company. In May 2015, the company made an initial public offering (IPO) on the Bolsa de Madrid, during which it was valued at €1.27 billion. In recent decades, Talgo has made a renewed effort to expand its presence internationally. During the late 2010s, Talgo made arrangements to establish a new train manufacturing site in the United Kingdom in response to orders for its trains having been placed by multiple British railway operators. In the early 2020s, the company invested in new manufacturing facilities in India with the aiming of securing sizable orders from across the country's railways.

Talgo trains are best known for their unconventional articulated railway passenger cars that use in between carriage bogies that Talgo patented in 1941, similar to the earlier Jacobs bogie. The wheels are mounted in pairs but not joined by an axle and the bogies are shared between coaches rather than underneath individual coaches. This allows a railway car to take a turn at higher speeds with less hunting oscillation. As the coaches are not mounted directly onto wheel bogies, the coaches are more easily insulated from track noise. This design has been proposed for further utilisation in the Talgo 22, double deck train with stepless access from the platform to the lower deck and between carriages. Talgo trains fitted with variable gauge axles can change rail gauge for instance at the / at the Spanish French border interchange. Since the introduction of the Talgo Pendular in 1980, the train tilts naturally inwards on curves, allowing it to run faster on curves without causing discomfort to passengers. The carriage tilting system pivots around the top of the suspension columns, which has the effect of partially cancelling the effects of lateral acceleration when cornering.

Talgo trains are divided into generations. They come in both locomotive hauled and self propelled versions.

The Talgo I was built in 1942 in Spain. The coaches were built at the "Hijos de Juan Garay" workshop in Oñati and the power car was built at the workshops of the "Compañía del Norte" in Valladolid. It was built as a prototype, and it was used to set several rail speed records. It had a max speed of on uphills and on flat/downhills. The trainset was destroyed on February 5, 1944 after approximately 3000 km of testing in a fire at its storage location, a warehouse in Cerra Negro.

Talgo II coaches and locomotives were first built in 1950 at the American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) works in the United States under the direction of Spanish engineers (the diesel electric locomotives were assembled by ACF with electrical components made by General Electric). Talgo II carried most of the Jet Rocket train's passengers between Chicago and Peoria, Illinois, after entering service on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the Rock Island line) in 1956. Slightly different coaches were later introduced, and the last car type of the Jet Rocket resembled that of the future Talgo III. The New York Central Railroad trialed a complete train until 1958 but saw little success. Talgo IIs also entered service under Renfe as the Renfe Class 350, where they ran between Madrid and Palencia. Talgo IIs were also built for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for its "John Quincy Adams" train from New York City to Boston, Massachusetts, and the Boston and Maine Railroad for its "Speed Merchant" train, running between Boston and Portland, Maine. Soon afterwards, Talgo II trains began running in Spain and were successfully operated until 1972. The same equipment was used for the Barcelona Talgo, which began operation on 26 May 1974 as the first ever through train service between Barcelona and Paris.

The Talgo Pendular (Talgo IV and Talgo V, also VI & Talgo 200 or 6th generation), introduced in 1980, created the "natural tilting" train, using a passive system that tilts the carriages with no need for electronic sensors or hydraulic equipment. Five Talgo IV trains were in use in Argentina on the General Roca Railway. They have since been replaced by CRRC Dalian rolling stock. In September 2022, the Talgo IV sets were transported to the Villa Luro workshop to undergo repairs, aiming to add an extra daily service between Buenos Aires and Rosario. The sets used on the Amtrak Cascades have been replaced by Amtrak owned Horizon cars. Talgo 200 series trains are also in use in Kazakhstan for the Almaty–Astana overnight train.

The Talgo VII introduced beginning in 2000 is used as a locomotive pulled train set as well as intermediate cars for the multiple units Talgo 250, Talgo 350 and Talgo XXI. The carriages are similar to the Talgo Pendular type but have an air controlled hydraulic brake system and power supply from head end power instead of diesel engine generators in the end cars. Talgo VII trains have a car which has two pairs of wheels in the middle of the set (of cars) rather than at one end of the set, which is the case for earlier Talgo trains. All the other cars in the set have a single pair of wheels.

The Series 8 passenger cars are similar to the Series VII cars, but the diesel generator car at one end of the train has a control cabin for push pull operation and a two axle end bogie. These trains are designed for the North American market. Talgo made an agreement in 2009 to build a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin which would initially supply two 14 car trainsets for the Amtrak Hiawatha Service until the project was cancelled. The company expressed hope the plant would later be used to build trains for other U. S. rail projects. Early in 2010, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced that it had negotiated the purchase of two 13 car trainsets for use in the Pacific Northwest rail corridor between Eugene and Vancouver, British Columbia. These trainsets were also manufactured in Wisconsin and were delivered in 2013. The sets are currently operating in the "Cascades" corridor in the Pacific Northwest. They have been integrated with the five existing sets in regular service. The Series 8 trains offer passengers many modern amenities including high speed Wi Fi, reclining seats and a full service bistro and lounge car. In 2014, the state of Michigan expressed interest in operating the unused Talgo 8 cars for their Amtrak Wolverine service. Three years later, Amtrak proposed to lease or buy the unused cars in the wake of the 2017 Washington train derailment. Ultimately, the two trainsets were sold to Nigeria for use on the Lagos Rail Mass Transit.

This series, which was originally designed for Russia and Kazakhstan, featured wide bodyshells and wheelsets. There are three versions, consisting of either 1520 mm fixed gauge, 1520 1435 mm variable gauge or 1520 1676 mm variable gauge. They are used in the Berlin Moscow line (December 2016), St. Petersburg Moscow Samara (August 2020). In July 2015, Talgo stated its intention to ship a Series 9 train to India at its own cost as a demonstration on the Mumbai Delhi rail route. On 10 September 2016, the final successful test run of the Talgo 9 series coaches was completed in India.

The Talgo 250 is a dual voltage electric train (AC/DC) equipped with variable gauge axles. This allows the units to be used on high speed lines and on conventional broad gauge lines. A Talgo 250 train consists of two power cars and 11 Talgo VII intermediate coaches. This class was developed for Renfe (classed as S 130). One trainset (RENFE Class 730) was involved in the Santiago de Compostela accident on 24 July 2013. Uzbekistan Railways ordered two Talgo 250 sets of a Russian gauge version in 2009. The first set arrived at Tashkent in July 2011.

The Talgo 250 Hybrid is a dual voltage, dual power train equipped with variable gauge axles. The train is therefore also able to operate on non electrified lines. A Talgo 250 Hybrid train consists of two power cars, two technical end coaches and nine Talgo VII intermediate coaches. The trains were developed for Renfe and classed initially as S 130H, later as S 730. They are rebuilt from existing Talgo 250 trains.

Talgo has developed recently a train known as "AVRIL" (Alta Velocidad Rueda Independiente Ligero — Light High Speed Independent Wheel), intended for speeds of The system uses underfloor traction in the front and rear vehicles, with the intermediate carriages having the Talgo Pendular system (which cannot use motored axles on the axles corresponding to the system). The train also has the option for variable gauge axles. Starting with the concept stage in 2009, it began dynamic testing on the Spanish high speed network in 2014, and was approved in May 2016. It won its first major contract in November 2016 from Renfe for the Mediterranean corridor in Spain, and its link to Paris. They are set to start commercial operations in March 2024.

In April 2019, Egypt ordered new Talgo trains. Egypt contracted for six trains from Talgo Company, but they became seven trains due to a delay in the delivery date to Egypt. This negates the words of the Minister of Transport who justified that train is a gift from the company for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. There is also a possibility of corruption in the train deal, as Transport Minister Kamel Al Wazir announced that the deal cost Egypt $126 million, but the company announced the details of the deal, which amounted to $172 million, on their website. On 9 August 2022, Egypt contracted for seven trains from Talgo, which included 15 year maintenance, for 280 million euros. The trains will be delivered at the beginning of 2024.

In addition to the multiple units with variable gauge, Talgo built in 2005 a prototype of a variable gauge locomotive (the L 9202, TRAV CA, 130 901 or Virgen del Buen Camino).