Remove the talgo from the discord from the Madrid-Barcelona line

In theory they were going to be one of Renfe’s great tricks to compete in the market newly liberalized of high Spanish speed, but the Avril de Talgo trains They have been choked to the railway operator. First by The delay In your delivery. Then for the punctuality problems or the “Effect 2000” who suffered trains at the beginning of 2025. and now for a technical incident that has led Renfe to make a radical decision, according to advances The world: to do without the Avril in one of its most important corridors, Madrid-Barcelona.

And all this in the middle of summer.

What happened? That Renfe has decided to do without the Talgo-Avril trains (106 series) in one of its most important corridors: the Madrid-Barcelona line. The news He has confirmed it The worldwhich points out that the operator has decided to make a particular ‘Sudoku’ to separate the S106 of the Avlo service that links the city and the capital of the country. The decision comes after a technical problem was detected (cracks in a Bogie) that forced the change of pieces.

According to Precise The worldthe rail operator has chosen to remove the Avril from the Madrid-Barcelona line and change them for other trains of the 103 (Siemens) series assigned so far to another of Renfe’s most important corridors, which links Madrid and Seville. The ‘files’ movement has forced S100 to be used between Valencia and Madrid and assign the Avril to Levante.

Is it a surprise? Not quite. Last week The economist had echoed already An internal message of Renfe in which he warned his employees that, “due to lack of Bogies of replacement “it was” foreseeable “that the S106 trains of Barcelona was temporarily out of service.

Now The world It goes further And he clarifies that Renfe has an Avril section due to lack of spare parts and has chosen to withdraw the rest of the Madrid-Barcelona corridor.

And all that, why? By an incident that dates back a few weeks ago, when during a routine review fissures were found in a Bogie of one of the S106 trains (Avril) that provide the service Low Cost Avlo on the Madrid-Barcelona line. He Bogie Integrates suspension systems, wheels, axes and brakes of the cars and the revision of the fleet found that it was not a timely failure.

The same problem was detected in the rest of the units (there are five Avril trains assigned to the Madrid-Barcelona corridor), so the affected pieces had to be changed. During that process, Precise The economistRenfe came to suspend the sale of Avlo service tickets between Madrid and Barcelona for the month of August (something that the operator denies) and it was agreed to reduce the maximum speed at which the S106 circulates in a section of 190 km in the Madrid-Barcelona line.

What does Renfe say? The operator launched An official statement At the end of July, before the circular that sent its employees was filtered, confirming that during a routine review it was identified “A technical anomaly” In one of the five trains of the 106 series that circulate in the high speed Madrid-Barcelona, which led him to “carry out an exhaustive review” in the rest of trains.

“The necessary measures to guarantee the operation of the service were adopted, proceeding to replace the affected systems and reinforce the technical reviews, so that the trains are operating without any anomaly,” Clarifies the operatorwhich ensures that he has carried out inspections in other S106 fleet trains without detecting “any abnormality.” However, in the same statement the company advances its decision to “reorganize” the Avlo services of the 106 series that circulate in the high speed Madrid-Barcelona.

Is there more? Yes. After the information of recent days and that Populi voice Publish images of the Bogies spoiled, some unions They have asked to Renfe to withdraw all the units of the model from the circulation. The five Talgo Avril S106 that cover the Avlo service in the Madrid-Barcelona corridor are not the only ones the rail operator has. The fleet exceeds twenty units.

The economist Precise In any case that not all units are the same. There would be a subsorie of 15 units endowed with Bogies Iberian wide including the five affected trains. And another 15 of movable rolling with other components that allow the train to combine different types of network.

The same newspaper He slippedH oce a few days that the fissures detected in several Bogies He has opened a new front between the trains manufacturer, Talgo, and Renfe: who must assume the cost of repair. The units would still be in the guarantee period, since the Avril were delivered 15 months ago, in May 2024.

Why is it important? Because beyond its effects on the Madrid-Barcelona line in the middle of summer, the relationship between Renfe and Talgo on account of the S106 trains, the great commitment of the rail operator to fight in a newly liberalized market. First the trains were delivered with a remarkable delay, which resulted in a fine of 116 million euros that catches the firm In full sale. That bad start was followed punctuality problems and a computer failure at the beginning of this year that was known as “Effect 2000”.

In the specific case of the Madrid-Barcelona line, Talgo alleges that the problem is that part of the journey is not in conditions for their trains to reach 300 km/h, according to Precise The world. For Adif, things are very different and remember that other models or operators such as Ouigo or Iro have not detected problems.

Images | Nelso Silva (Flickr) and Renfe

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