Talgo You are lucky. Spanish railway manufacturer celebrates 80 years since José Luis de Oriol y Urigüen and Alejandro Goicoechea Omar signed the start of a pilot project aimed at modernizing the railway. “With innovation as the essence of the company’s founders, Talgo is now a global technology leader, a company recognized for its unique capacity for innovation, unique technology and reliability, and the world benchmark for high-speed, long-distance and medium-haul sustainable trains, all designed and manufactured in Spain”. show from the company.

Articulated and independent wheel light rail, rail faster than used up to that point, This makes it possible to reduce energy consumption, traction effort and travel time, increasing passenger safety and comfort. It’s in 1942 when an alliance of two pioneers, an engineer persistent in a revolutionary idea and an entrepreneur who pawned almost everything to believe in the idea, was formed. Talgo’s technology was then considered revolutionary, completely different from what had been invented in 1825, more than a century earlier, in England.

These distinct values, together with innovation, have made it possible Talgo has been the benchmark of technology for more than 80 years. Since then, there have been many achievements of the company: the AVE to Mecca, ICE L or Avril recently. So much so that the high-speed train to Mecca is considered the greatest technological challenge in railway history. With a high-speed project in Saudi Arabia (Haramain), Talgo faced a pivotal point in the history of railways: to supply a fleet of trains capable of running more than 300 kilometers per hour in the most hostile environment on the planet, the desert. The Talgo 350 train, thanks to its technical and construction characteristics, today copes with the extreme temperatures and abrasive effects of desert sands. To supply this rolling material, Talgo had to develop patents on things such as protection against dust and sand, passenger safety and comfort in extreme climates, or new solutions to reduce wear between wheels and rails in the desert.

International expansion

Growth has accompanied development Talgo, which over the past eight decades has expanded internationally, anticipated rail transport needs, and expanded and diversified its portfolio. This has translated into exponential growth to become a successful multinational company employing more than 2,600 people from 47 nationalities, spans much of Europe, North America, the Middle East and Central Asia, with an industrial presence in seven countries (including the United States and Germany).

In this way, and more recently, Talgo has reached new international milestones: ICE L selected by Deutsche Bahn become a new design reference for future trains. The new train has a multi-system locomotive (compatible with different supply voltages and different signaling systems) and 17 passenger carriages, the number of which can later be adjusted upon request. Apart from being used with locomotives Talgo, these trains will be compatible with other tractors, guaranteeing high interoperability: they will become international trains and are even planned to operate domestic routes in Germany, and they will also connect Germany with the borders of the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland . It will also be used by Danish operators DSB.