TALGO BUILDS ON UK PLANS
Spanish company is bringing its innovation techniques to the UK
Spanish manufacturer Talgo is so much more than merely a builder of passenger trains.
As it continues to lay down foundations in the UK - with a recent announcement that its UK headquarters will be in Chesterfield, while there is also hope that the first contracts for its planned factory at Longannet (Fife) are not too far away - the company continues to innovate, just as it has done since its creation in 1942.
When Talgo says it is bringing innovation, you need only look at its history.
In 1968, it created the world’s first train with automatic variable gauge.
Five years later, the first naturally tilting train was debuted by Talgo. Coaches automatically adapt to curves, compensating cant deficiency and enhancing passenger comfort. Journey times are also cut by 25% - all without the need to invest in infrastructure.
In 1989, the company expanded with its first international operations, when it started running trains in Germany, followed by America. Then in the late 1990s, it developed its first Very High Speed Train ( VHST), designed to compete with established manufacturers.
In 2010, the world’s first interoperable train was developed by Talgo, while it has also created the first wide-bodyshell VHST that can offer 3+2 seating under the current UIC (International Union of Railways) standard loading gauge.
However, Talgo is involved in more than just designing and building trains. It also has a rich heritage in the maintenance sector, with innovation again a theme.
For more than 45 years, the company has designed and manufactured maintenance equipment for operators across the globe.
More than 400 maintenance units are in use across 44 countries, including in the UK where wheel lathes are used at Chiltern Railways’ Aylesbury depot.
Its equipment is classified into three main groups: underfloor wheel lathes, measuring equipment, and shunting cars.
The lathes are designed to reshape wheel profiles without the need to remove the train’s bogies or wheelsets, and are adaptable to any client’s requirements and facilities.
Talgo also supplies both automatic equipment and manual devices that are designed to detect any flaw or defect in the wheels without stopping the train to perform these measurements.
As for the shunting cars, these are designed to move trains in a simple and effective manner without any type of coupling, allowing them to be used for all fleets. This comes in handy in the UK, where there are eight types of coupling across the various new trains being delivered.
Perhaps Talgo’s most well-known innovation is Rodal, its independent rotating and self-guiding wheels. The system works by enabling each wheel on an axle (left and right) to rotate at different speeds. This enables lightweight structures, reduced track wear and tear, lower energy consumption, passive tilting, and automatic track gauge-change.
On curves, a Talgo coach swings like a pendulum because its centre of gravity is located below its rotational centre. The passive tilting this creates balances the centrifugal force.
In its native Spain, there are two different track gauges, with Talgo trains able to run on both. They can adapt to the gauge change while moving and not stopping.
Over the past ten years, this operation has been carried out more than 3.5 million times. The technology has been used on trains built for 170mph, but is also being included in the Avril ES design, which has a maximum speed of 205mph.
Rodal technology has yet to be used in the UK, but the company is bringing it here as part of a programme to explain new technologies, to transfer knowledge, and to boost domestic research and development capabilities.
As part of the programme, Talgo has donated a Rodal to the National College for Advanced Transport & Infrastructure in Birmingham. NCATI Chief Executive
Clair Mowbray said at the unveiling of the
equipment on November 11: “It will provide our learners with the opportunity to learn about technologies being used throughout the world.”
Talgo President Carlos de Palacio said:
“This is part of Talgo’s plan to generate better understanding of up-to-date technologies that are being used around the world, but which have so far eluded the UK.
“Talgo’s strategy of ‘true manufacturing’ - and not relying on brainpower or kits of parts from elsewhere - requires that innovation and Research and Development takes place in the host country.”
Due to the vehicles’ innovative design,
Talgo claims to be the only manufacturer in the world that can offer full accessibility for persons of reduced mobility (PRM). This is because the floor of the train is the same height as the platform along the whole train, with no interior steps or ramps. The company says this means “you do not board a Talgo train, you just step into it”.
The wide bodyshell of the coach is possible as they all have a quadrangular shape. In curves, longer coaches invade the exterior (ends) and interior (middle), whereas the shorter Talgo coaches can adapt better to curves and therefore can be wider without invading curve exteriors or interiors up to 3,200mm.
Typically, their design means that Talgo coaches are able to increase speeds of the train by 20% through curves without any infrastructure modifications, while remaining 30% lighter than conventional designs.