SPANISH national operator Renfe has been forced to temporarily withdraw from service the fleet of five series 106 high-speed trains that operate Avlo low-cost services on the Madrid - Barcelona high-speed line, following the discovery of cracks in the frames of motor bogies beneath the power cars.
A Renfe spokesman told IRJ that two trains have now returned to service following the completion of repairs, and that Avlo services are operating normally between Madrid and Barcelona. Renfe issued a statement on July 25 saying that bookings had not been suspended at any time.
The five trains form part of the batch of 15 1435mm gauge variants contained in Renfe’s initial order for 30 Talgo Avril high-speed trains. This also included 15 trains capable of operating on both 1435mm and 1668mm gauge, and Renfe says that the rest of the series 106 fleet has also been inspected without any faults being detected.
According to Spanish business newspaper El Economista, series 102 and 103 high-speed trains have been deployed on the Madrid - Barcelona line to replace series 106 trains. The single-class Avlo variant of the series 106 has a total of 581 seats, compared with 316 for the series 102 and 404 for the series 103.
Following the detection of bogie faults requiring additional maintenance work, on July 25 the maximum speed of series 106 trains operating on a 190km section of high-speed line from Madrid Atocha to a point 30km from Calatayud was limited to 250km/h.
The notice issued by the operational safety department of Renfe Passenger, informing drivers and managers of the temporary speed restriction, says that the faults have been caused by “vibration, oscillation and other incidents” occurring when the trains operate at maximum speed. This is 310km/h on the Madrid - Barcelona high-speed line.
According to the notice, the speed restriction will remain in place while Talgo works to assess the extent of the faults and determine a definitive speed limit, based on the stress as measured on the line and its impact on the dynamic forces acting on the bogie frame.
IRJ has also approached Talgo for comment.
