How it began
Alejandro Goicoechea, an engineer on the La Robla Railway in northern Spain, is said to have resolved to design an all-metal, light and robust vehicle after seeing passengers injured by splintered wooden coaches in a 1932 accident. He proposed an extremely light articulated train to the La Robla board in 1936 and to the MZA company in 1939 without success. In 1940 he built triangular test frames, in August 1941 he ran a 12-car articulated set at up to 75 km/h between Madrid and Leganés, and in October 1942 the Talgo I prototype ran between Madrid and Guadalajara.
Before it existed
The prevailing view at the time was that safety and the avoidance of derailment depended on railway vehicles having a heavy axle load, which also gave them a high center of gravity. According to the Spanish Railways Foundation, this could in fact lead to trains derailing on curves. Goicoechea also believed that the railway was becoming unprofitable because of its lack of speed and its excessive costs, and he argued for vehicles that were lightweight, robust and low.
How it works
The first frames were elongated isosceles triangles. The point of each triangle rested on the middle of the base of the one in front, and wheels turned independently at the ends of each base, so that the wheels stayed parallel to the track through curves. This guided arrangement reduced wear on the rails, the risk of derailment, vibration and energy use. Later Talgo trains kept short articulated cars carried on pairs of independently rotating wheels.
How it spread
José Luis de Oriol financed the project and the company Patentes Talgo was founded in 1942; the name stands for Goicoechea Oriol lightweight articulated train. The Talgo II was built by American Car and Foundry in the United States under Spanish supervision and entered service between Madrid and Hendaye on July 14, 1950. Talgo III followed between Madrid and Barcelona in August 1964. Talgo equipment was later delivered to North America, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Denmark and Egypt.
What lasted
Talgo developed variable-gauge wheelsets so that trains could pass between the Iberian gauge of 1,668 millimeters and the standard European gauge. A regaugeable Talgo III ran from Madrid to Paris in November 1968, and the Catalán Talgo began running between Barcelona and Geneva in June 1969. Talgo Pendular trains, which entered service in June 1980, used a passive system that tilts the car body on curves and allowed speeds up to 25 percent higher on bends without changes to the track.
Where it stands today
The Talgo 350 high-speed train was presented as a prototype in 2000, and its AVE S102 and S112 versions run on high-speed lines in Spain. In June 2002 the Talgo XXI reached 159 miles per hour, which the Spanish Railways Foundation describes as a record for a diesel train. In 2016 Talgo was commissioned to build AVRIL trains, which keep the short cars and paired independent wheels of the original concept and seat 521 passengers.
