Renfe’s Talgo Avril trains, 106 series, have been in service for a week today. After a bittersweet first day, the rest of the days have been reducing the number of incidents and improving the punctuality of the new trains that have been put into service three years later than planned.
A revolution for high-speed trains
Tuesday May 21st was a key day for Spanish high-speed trains. After the difficult road travelled to manufacture and homologate the 30 trains ordered by Renfe in 2016, the moment of truth arrived for the most revolutionary train manufactured by Talgo.
Designed to run at a maximum speed of 330 km/h, these are the first trains in commercial service to incorporate Talgo’s wide body, with a maximum separation between the sides of the body (in its widest area) of 3,200 mm, in contrast to the 2,942 mm of standard Talgo bodies.
This characteristic allows seats to be installed inside in a 3 + 2 arrangement, thus achieving a high-capacity train without greatly compromising comfort or renouncing total accessibility.
With distribution in two classes for the AVE service, they offer 507 seats. In contrast, the high-capacity configuration for the Avlo service (only with standard seats and without a cafeteria car) has 581 seats.
To comply with gauge regulations, Renfe’s 106 series trains have a Liebherr technology system for positioning the body on the longitudinal axis of the train.
Furthermore, they are the first trains capable of reaching 330 km/h with a variable gauge system, a fact that reduces the journey time to Galicia and Asturias. And for the first time, they will be able to run at 300 km/h between Ourense and Santiago de Compostela.
However, in the first phase, journey times between the Galician cities are similar to those of the Alvia.
Renfe’s 106 series entered service on 21 May with ten units distributed between four corridors:
- Madrid-Asturias: one AVE service between Madrid and Gijón daily in each direction and one AVE Gijón-Madrid-Castelló.
- Madrid-Galicia: one Madrid-Santiago-Vigo AVE service and one Madrid-Santiago-A Coruña AVE train per day in each direction.
- Madrid-Barcelona: his corridor is the only to use fixed-gauge trains for the moment. Renfe uses the 106 series to run the Avlo Madrid-Barcelona service with two daily trains per direction . One of the journeys is the result of the conversion of an AVE service to Avlo. The other two Avlo services continue to be operated with series 112 Talgo trainsets.
- Valladolid-Madrid-Levante: apart from the AVE Gijón-Castelló, all Avlo trains from Alicante, Murcia and Valencia to Madrid or Valladolid run on this corridor.
The tortuous debut of Renfe’s 106 series and noise and vibration complaints
The first day of service was rather tortuous. On the one hand, several incidents in the variable gauge vehicles generated multiple delays in the Asturias and Galicia corridors.
The greatest incident occurred in the neutral zone that separates the 25 kV 50 Hz ac electrification of the Santiago-Ourense high-speed line from the 3,000 V dc catenary of the conventional network just a few metres from the city of Las Burgas. The train lost traction and had to be towed by a 130 series train to Taboadela, where it continued its journey to Madrid by its means with a delay of more than two hours.
In addition, one of the Avlo trains covering the Madrid-Barcelona corridor was attacked with stones as it passed through Camp de Tarragona.
As the days have gone by, the number of incidents caused by Renfe’s 106 series trains has decreased. However, Renfe sources tell Trenvista that several problems are occurring with the train’s doors and electrical equipment. These are small faults typical of a new vehicle, which will gradually be corrected.
However, Renfe’s 106 series has generated complaints among passengers. Mainly due to the large amount of vibrations of the train and the noise caused by its running. As you will see in the videos we are going to publish on Trainvelling, these problems are greater on variable gauge trains than on fixed gauge trains.
In addition, the seats used are quite uncomfortable compared to those used on other AVE trains. However, on the Avlo service, comfort has been improved concerning the new seats installed on the 112 series trains during their refurbishment for this service.
The apparent discomfort of the seats, confirmed with the train’s premiere, was one of the reasons for publishing this opinion article on the suitability of using these trains for service with the AVE brand, considered Premium and with a great reputation at national and international level.
