• Talgo 230 is the lightest train in its category, and the only one that is fully accessible
• The company also ranks the Avril platform as the high-speed train with lowest CO2 emissions

Talgo is showcasing this week in Madrid, as part of the Rail Live 2023 exhibition, its portfolio of new passenger trains that have been designed to maximise energy efficiency and improve the user experience. Their technical specifications and characteristics make them particularly suitable for addressing the current trends that are putting rail transport at the heart of the energy transition to safer and more sustainable mobility. This is the particular case of Talgo 230, the Intercity train platform that the Spanish company is developing for countries such as Germany and Denmark.

The supply of 79 Talgo 230 trains to the German public rail operator Deutsche Bahn, as part of a framework contract for 100 units, has become the largest single order in the company’s history and has acknowledged the differential advantages of its unique and distinctive rolling stock technology.
Equipped with interoperable systems that will enable them to cross Germany’s borders with several neighbouring countries, these trains are lighter than the standards in the industry and have a high-powered locomotive developed and manufactured entirely by Talgo, which will become part of Deutsche Bahn’s fleet under the series name “Baureihe 105”.

ICE L, in Spain for the first time

These 79 trains will be part of Deutsche Bahn’s ICE L high-speed product: in addition to the classic Intercity-Express acronym, a new nomenclature will be added that only Talgo will be able to use: Low-Floor.

With a low floor at the same height as the platform level, and without interior steps, Talgo 230 trains are the best accessibility solution and not only make the journey easier for passengers with reduced mobility, but also speed up customer loading and unloading times. This is a key feature in crowded rail networks and in densely populated areas such as the Central Europe or the Mediterranean arc.
At the exhibition held in Madrid, Talgo has shown for the first time in Spain the final appearance of these trains, whose first units are already in the testing phase prior to their homologation. With a maximum commercial speed of 230 km/h, these trains are technically very similar to the 16 Talgo 230 trains that will be supplied to the Danish operator DSB, whose first trainset is expected to arrive in the Scandinavian country in the following weeks.

“Much more than an approach”

In his speech at a plenary session of the convention being held in parallel to the exhibition, Jaime Teresa Lanza, Regional Sales Manager for Western Europe at Talgo, highlighted all the key features that make Talgo 230 the optimal solution for those train corridors where the aim is to draw the maximum number of passengers from both road and air transport.

According to Jaime Teresa, “the passenger loading and unloading times, the power-to-weight ratio resulting from having lighter trains that are, therefore, capable of accelerating and braking faster, and the adaptability of the passenger carriages that Talgo manufactures are the main reasons why Talgo 230 is the tool of choice for leading operators in decarbonisation, such as Deutsche Bahn in Germany and DSB in Denmark”.

“Sustainability is much more than an approach. Sustainability is the result of our capabilities and ambitions, and it is proven with data,” Teresa said. And the data, for Talgo, could not be any clearer. Our low energy consumption, the flexibility of Talgo 230 trains to be converted even into very high-speed trains, the maximum exploitation of the capacity of existing infrastructures with bimodal trains or trains with gauge change, and the recyclability and recoverability of the materials we use to manufacture them, make our Intercity trains the best and fastest way to shift passengers onto the railways”.

Talgo Avril: 24% less energy consumption

Rail Live Madrid was also the setting for the announcement that Talgo Avril, the manufacturer’s new very high-speed train and the only one in Spain with a simultaneous gauge change and the capacity to exceed 250 km/h, had recently been awarded the best technological qualification in environmental terms in the railway sector.

The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a “sustainability card” issued by an independent body, has certified that Talgo Avril has an energy consumption of less than 13.7 kWh/km, a 24% drop compared to the following competitor.

These figures are the result of technological innovations that are unique to Talgo, such as a 20% lower tare weight than the industry’s comparable average, wider cars with maximum capacity that can carry around 1,060 people with a single engine driver in low-fare operations. Furthermore, they are the result of automatic gauge changeover technology that maximises the use of the train on the unique Spanish railway network, where for decades two gauges will coexist: 1,668 mm (Iberian) and 1,435 mm (European standard).

About Talgo  

Talgo S.A. is a leading company in the design, manufacture and maintenance of high-speed light trains with a manufacturing presence, among other countries: in Spain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States. The Company is recognized worldwide for its innovative capabilities, unique and distinctive technology and reliability. Talgo is Renfe’s main supplier of high-speed and ultra high-speed trains and the supplier of trains in the “Haramain” high-speed railway line project between Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Talgo is also the manufacturer chosen by the German operator Deutsche Bahn and the Danish operator DSB to decarbonize its network with the Talgo 230 long-distance trains.

For further information, please contact:  
Press contact:
Aída Prados and Íñigo Palacio – Estudio de Comunicación
Email: talgo@estudiodecomunicacion.com
Phone no.: +34 91 576 52 50