Decarbonisation On The Run

Talgo’s lightweight technology has been one of the factors for the choice made by the Danish Railways. Offering an up to 30% lower-than-normative energy consumption due to its unique running gear, the Spanish manufacturer is well-suited to further enhance the role of the train as the most sustainable means of transport in a EU country that has drawn up an extremely ambitious climate change emergency response plan – to reduce carbon emissions by 70% by the end of the decade.

Full Interoperability

In February 2020, in a tender open to railway manufacturers from all over the world, the Danish operator DSB awarded to Talgo the construction of trains for the renewal of the major part of its passenger vehicle fleet. These units will operate on the domestic Intercity routes and on the international line connecting Denmark with Germany.

The first order under the framework contract worth 500 million euros involves the supply of 16 trains with a commercial speed of 200 km/h. The model chosen by the Danish operator is based on the Talgo 230 platform. It features full interoperability and compatibility with other manufacturers’ locomotives.

Focus On People

In this project, light and space issues were of particular relevance to the DSB. These trains, with continuous low-floor design, had to accommodate all possible passenger needs and comply with a wide range of the most different requirements set by the client.

Wider and shorter Talgo cars provide for a more flexible inner space arrangement and offer passengers bright, airy and noise-free saloons. Trains built under this project will be provided with cars specifically designed for people with reduced mobility and at least two spacious areas with flexible luggage racks for safe and hygienic transportation of prams, bikes and big wheel scooters.

For these personal mobility devices, featuring a low carbon footprint, numerous electrical sockets (charging points) will be available along the train, enabling passengers to charge their transporters during the travel. In accordance with the increasing trend towards more flexible, adaptable services, the new train will have a self-service area with hot and cold beverages and snacks.

Cloud Computing On Board

Talgo 230 trains for DSB are fitted with connectivity systems that send data directly to the information boards that offer passengers real-time details on the service.

They also integrate with the onboard video surveillance system to ensure maximum security and are used to exchange data with maintenance workshops by sending information necessary for predictive maintenance operations planning, all the above performed using cloud computing.

Border-free Project

With over five decades of experience in providing rolling stock specifically designed for international passenger lines connecting Spain with France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Russia and Poland, Talgo trains are the best choice in terms of ensuring the highest levels of interoperability.

Eight new trains to be delivered under the first contract order will be used for commercial operation in both Denmark and Germany. Their entry into service is planned on the route linking the Danish capital Copenhagen and the German city of Hamburg. These Talgo 230 units will not only feature compatibility with multiple infrastructure systems but will be prepared to operate with other manufacturers’ locomotives.

End-of-life Recovery

Along with the energy reduction component, one of the key priorities of the DSB project is the use of materials specifically selected for their recovery potential. The useful life of a properly maintained Talgo train may exceed four decades and it is necessary to ensure the environmental impact minimization once this period is over.

To the design of its products Talgo applies the circular economy approach. This means that, in addition to its commitment to the energy and materials consumption reduction at the train manufacturing stage, Talgo guarantees that at least 95% of all the components used in each project shall be recoverable at the end of the train´s life.

Adapted To The Environment

Winding daily beside Nile River, along more than 1,000 Km, from the Mediterranean Sea to the first waterfall of the great African river: this is how Egyptian National Railways ENR operate the Intercity trains that Talgo has delivered in July 2023. Oftentimes in extreme weather conditions, the application of our exclusive technology and the experience gained from Haramain Project in Saudi Arabia and provide service to almost the entire Egyptian territory, connecting Alexandria, Cairo and Aswan.

Highly Reliable

Egyptian state company ENR awarded Talgo, in April 2019, a contract for the supply of complete six hauled trains, composed of a locomotive and 14 passenger cars each. The first train started operations in December 2022, and the sixth in July 2023. This means that the trains started commercial operations five months ahead of schedule.

The project, a result of a highly competitive international bid, for the amount of 158 million euros, includes not only the supply of the units, currently in manufacturing process, but also its integral maintenance during 8 years.

The trains, highly reliable, will run across the backbone of the Egyptian railway system, and will provide potential service to 98% of the population of the country. Both expected intensive use and the demonstrated experience in the manufacturing of train-sets, designed specifically to operate in extreme weather conditions, were key factors so that ENR trusts Talgo.

Resistant To Heat

Talgo trains are designed to resist extreme weather conditions, and its technology is certified from -50º to +55ºC. In Egypt, where summer temperature are very high, especially at the south of the country, this feature will be key to guarantee the availability of the trains.

To accomplish this new challenge, Talgo is exploiting the knowledge gained in the development of Haramain Project: Talgo trains are running across the Saudi desert, connecting Mecca and Medina cities from 2018. In the same way, passengers will travel in Egypt in maximum comfort thanks to high performance air conditioning equipment and special paint to protect from solar radiation.

High Technology

The selected platform for the manufacturing of trains is Talgo 230: Proven efficiency trains, provided with optimum technological solutions, which run hundreds of millions of commercial service kilometers yearly, in USA, Germany, Russia or Spain.

The trains shall circulate reliably at maximum operating speed of 160 km/h, since this project is equipped with exclusive and efficient independently-rotating and automatically-steered wheels of Talgo, which enhances the dynamic performance and reduces significantly the maintenance needs for both the rolling stock and the infrastructure.

Spaces Designed For People

Each Train of ENR will have capacity for 492 passenger, distributed in two classes: business class and. Besides, the trains will be equipped with a spacious and bright cafeteria, and will have the maximum internal accessibility thanks to spaces specifically designed for people with reduced mobility (PMR), thus they can move fully independently.

In addition, they are designed with highest quality standards, and spaces intended for both tourists and professional travels. The trains will be provided with WiFi connectivity in the whole trainset, and infotainment systems with LED screens in all business class seats.

Sustainable Trains

The cars are constructed on the unique running gear technology of Talgo, allowing manufacturing of trains up to 30% light-weight. This weight reduction results in more efficient consumption, and significant noise reduction, therefore lower negative impact on the environment.
Nile delta is one of the most endangered areas by the global warming, and it has a heavy demographic pressure, since 97% of the population of the country are concentrated along the narrow Nile Valley and Delta. To revert the global warming, the Egyptian government is modernizing the economy and transportation means. These six units are essential in the strategy to fight the climate change.

In 2016, Egypt has signed the Agreement of Paris, of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change, establishing measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Afrosiyob - Uzbekistan

Since 2011 the Afrosiyob service has connected Tashkent with Samarkand in Uzbekistan using several Talgo 250 sets designed specifically for use on 1520mm-gauge infrastructure. These are Central Asia’s first high-speed trains.

Afrosiyob - Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan Railways (Temir Yoʻllari’) has revitalised its operations following significant investments in infrastructure improvements and the procurement of new rolling stock for its Afrosiyob service, which operates between the country’s capital, Tashkent, and one of its most important cities, Samarkand. Named after the founder of the historical city of Samarkand, the new trains have significantly reduced travel times between the two destinations while offering the safest and most comfortable means of travel. The 345km journey can be covered in only two hours instead of the three-and-half-hours it takes using conventional trains.

To the initial two 9-car trains purchased in 2009, two more 11-car trains were added in 2015, which allowed expanding routes to serve destinations both to the south of Samarkand, Qarshi, and to the east, Bukhara. This second order was testimony to the huge success of the first units, which was endorsed again in 2019, with the acquisition of two other units of 11 cars each and 4 complementary cars to increase the capacity of the first order. Now the Afrosiyob fleet consists of 6 trainsets of 11 cars each.

Afrosiyob - Uzbekistan

The successful application of Talgo’s technology in Uzbekistan has not only provided the best solution given the specific needs of the operator, but also demonstrates that it is possible to implement low-cost high-speed systems that require minimal intervention on the existing rail network. The trains used on the Afrosiyob service demonstrate this by operating at maximum speeds on straight sections of the line, and continuing to operate at reasonably high-speeds through curved sections, which helps to significantly reduce overall travel times.

• Operating speed of 230km/h in straight line segments
• Optimal rounding of curves in the most complicated sections thanks to natural tilting technology
• Powerful acceleration and braking to quickly adjust the speed curve to the permissible maximum in each section
• Control offered signalling and remote communication systems Club-U and RVS-1.

Series 130 and 730

High-speed networks have improved mobility within Spain, but they have also created obstacles for interoperability. The country’s new high-speed lines are built using a different track gauge to conventional infrastructure, which forced Spain’s railway operator Renfe to demand the production of a train that could use a variable gauge system to operate both on modern infrastructure but also reach every corner of the country using the conventional network.

Series 130 and 730

Spain’s steady expansion of its high-speed railway has created several obstacles to seamless interoperability with the existing network due to differences in the track gauge and a lack of electrification. Series 730 is Talgo’s response to Renfe’s desire to overcome these obstacles.

Series 130 and 730

Although the Spanish government has prioritised the construction of high-speed tracks, many cities in Spain will still have to wait many years for direct connections with the new railway network. As opposed to other countries, where the high-speed trains can operate seamlessly on conventional lines to reach their destinations, in Spain, the difference between the 1668mm Iberian track gauge and the 1435mm international standard gauge could have potentially become an insurmountable obstacle to the achievement of this goal. Indeed high-speed and conventional tracks may have had to operate in isolation if it was not for the development of Talgo’s Series 130 train.

The train utilises Talgo’s engineering efforts to maximise the use of new infrastructure and expand the scope of long-distance services. It builds on decades of experience with variable-gauge rolling assembly technology and is the first automated application of this system, and demonstrates Talgo’s ability to integrate subsystems into trains fully adapted to Renfe’s needs.

Series 130 and 730

In 2007, Renfe entered the Talgo 250 into service, a customised train designed to extend operation from the new high-speed lines to destinations on the conventional network. Excellent commercial results encouraged Renfe to request that future trains like Series 130 can operate on non-electrified lines.

To satisfy this specific need, Series 730 was modified and the train can now run on all lines in the Iberian Peninsula, connecting Madrid with Galicia, the Region of Murcia or Extremadura, and operate at 250km/h on the high-speed network.

KTZ

KTZ

Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country on Earth yet has a population of just 16 million people. Economic development at the start of the 21st century increased demand for transport, but Kazakhstan’s railway rolling stock was incapable of offering services that would shorten the enormous distances between the country’s major population centres. The arrival of the first Talgo trains dramatically changed this situation.

KTZ

The unquestionable success of Talgo’s rolling stock in Kazakhstan since they were introduced in 2003 was the basis for Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) to again select Talgo to further enhance its passenger fleet nearly a decade later. Talgo is currently manufacturing 603 wide-bodyshell cars for 21 trains, which will gradually enter service over the next few years.

These sets are part of a framework agreement for the supply of up to 3000 inter-city cars which will replace Soviet-era stock and are the only vehicles in the world certified to operate at -50ºC. The design of the train increases the interior space, while the cars comply with the interoperability standards of the Eurasian Customs Union, meaning that they are certified to operate in the founding member countries, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

KTZ

Kazakhstan’s railway network spans over 15,000km and uses the 1520mm Russian track gauge, a legacy of its Soviet past. Following the country’s independence, one of the government’s priorities was to modernise transport infrastructure, with the railway a major focus in a country where the population is unevenly distributed.

In 2001, the national railway operator Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) commissioned Talgo to deliver a six-car tilting train to carry out a series of demonstration tests on the 1350km line between Almaty and Astana – the two most important cities in the country. The results could not have been more telling: Talgo trains reduced the journey time by eight hours, down from the 20 hours required by even the best conventional trains at the time. After this success, in 2003 KTZ added two newly manufactured night-service trains to its rolling stock fleet, to which a further 436 cars were added in 2010.

Series 8 (USA)

The Series 8 trains are the latest Talgo development for the North American market. They are specifically designed to operate in this region and are compliant with all FRA standards including more demanding requirements for universal accessibility and structural resistance in the event of collisions.

Series 8 (USA)

The success of the five trains manufactured by Talgo in the late 1990s for the Cascades service between Portland and Vancouver led to a follow-up order in 2009. However, this time Amtrak did not just need additional trains, it needed trains that would enhance the attractiveness of its services on the West coast and on the route between Milwaukee and Chicago. The states of Oregon and Wisconsin respectively requested a solution that would deploy state-of-the-art technology to offer a quality and cost-effective public service that fully comply with strict federal technical standards. The Talgo Series 8 is the answer to these specific requirements.

Series 8 (USA)

All the cars that make up the four new Series 8 trains were manufactured by Talgo at a factory in Milwaukee. Maintenance is carried out at facilities on the west coast, which guarantee that strict safety requirements are met and ensure maximum availability.

Series 8 (USA)

Like the trains supplied for the Cascades service in the 1990s, any locomotives in Amtrak’s fleet can haul the new Talgo trains. The trains’ independent power supply whih uses generators, and their ability to adapt to the operator’s specific demands, offer the necessary flexibility to maximise the use of every powered and non-powered cars.