It was going to be the solution, but it has become a source of problems. That is what has happened in recent months with one of the trains manufactured by Talgo and operated by Renfe: the S106, better known as Avril, an acronym for High Speed Independent Light Wheel. This is the model that the public operator acquired during the last term of Mariano Rajoy in Moncloa, and key, above all, for the high speed that connects Galicia and Asturias with Madrid. A model that is causing quite a few headaches.
The last one, right at the beginning of the year. Just as we turned the page on the calendar, the Avrils stopped being operational for almost 24 hours. “Due to a technical incident, all the self-propelled vehicles of the 106 series (Standard and Conventional Gauge) are useless,” announced Adif, the public railway infrastructure operator, on January 1. This failure, which caused delays in the entire network, forced Renfe to relocate nearly 15,000 travelers on the routes that connect Madrid with Galicia and Asturias, with Barcelona, and with València and Murcia. Also, to redesign the entire operation on the first day of the year and, in case the failure persists, on the second.
Finally, the computer failure was resolved in one day. The problem was in the communication between the control system and the Avril battery chargers. In total, 24 trains affected. Talgo targets the supplier of the battery system, the Basque company Ingeteamand assures that the failure was linked to the change of year.
It is not something isolated. The problems with this Talgo model have been practically continuous. One of the most notorious, that of last August 5, when an Avlo train that was traveling between València Joaquín Sorolla and Madrid Chamartín Clara Campoamor suffered a breakdown in the electrical power system right at the entrance of the latter station, which It left almost 500 travelers inside the train, without electricity and unable to leave. That month alone, 80% of the routes operated with the Avrils suffered some type of delay. However, before they were operational, the S106s were already in the pillory, because Talgo delivered the first units of this train to Renfe almost two years late.
A controversial award
To see the origin of the Avril you have to go back to 2016. The then Ministry of Public Works – today, renamed Transport and Sustainable Mobility – boasted of an operation that seemed round. Renfe awarded another Spanish company, Talgo, a contract to reinforce the fleet of high-speed trains with thirty new vehicles. The first, almost twenty, did not begin operating until May of this year, but they should have been ready in 2022.
In 2016, the head of Public Works was Íñigo de la Serna, who defended the contract with Talgo for being the most economical, since it saved the public operator close to 1,000 million euros compared to the commercial proposals of other manufacturers, such as the French Alstom. or the German Siemens. “The Government and Renfe benefit from a contract that allows them to obtain the most modern and also the cheapest train on the market,” De la Serna said at that time. “It will involve a global investment of 1,495 million euros, which is a 43% improvement compared to the tender prices.”
The price of each train, in 2016, stood at 22.5 million euros, almost 30% below the tender amount, but then the reduction was higher when taking into account other aspects, such as maintenance. De la Serna highlighted the benefits of the contract because, in addition to the price, it was going to be a “boost” for the industrial sector, because production would remain in Spain and would provide nearly 1,000 jobs, both direct and indirect.
The awarding of the Avrils sparked controversy. The Canadian operator Bombardier appealed against the procedure and ended up taking the dispute to the National Court, believing that preference was given to Talgo. However, he ended up withdrawing the lawsuit to restore normality in commercial relations, according to the newspaper. Five Daysat a time when the state operator was accelerating the acquisition of trains, after years of containment in the volume of investment.
Eight years after the Avril purchase contract, the problems with this model have been the focus of political debate. Last August, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, went to both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate to report on the railway situation, after the problems during the high summer season. He highlighted, for example, the lack of punctuality of S106. Since the Avrils began operating on May 21 and only until August 11, their punctuality was 40%, almost 36 percentage points less than the average of all Renfe commercial operations, he explained in the Upper House.
“Have you changed your mind about how good, pretty and cheap the Avrils were or are you calling your former Minister of Public Works a liar?” said Puente, a few days later, in Congress in response to the PP deputy, Héctor Palencia.
“Mr. De la Serna, who became known as the promising minister for everything he promised and never fulfilled or as the king of infographics for his habit of showing graphs of projects that he never put into action,” he ironized. “Despite the fact that, unlike its competitors that were already running in the commercial phase – the rest of the trains that participated were trains that existed, were around and worked – the Avril was only a prototype and ensured that its reliability was very high,” the minister argued.
The tug of war between Talgo and Renfe
Now, with most of the contracted Avril in operation, although with problems, Renfe and Talgo are immersed in another tug of war. After the breakdown on January 1, the president of the public company, Raül Blanco, has estimated the cost of this latest incident for the railway operator at one million euros, including the compensation that Renfe has to pay to users. “The incident has been resolved and, within the framework of the complex and difficult relationship we have with Talgo, we will study whether this adds any more elements to the penalties it already has,” he elaborated after meeting with the Generalitat of Catalonia to address the future of Rodalies.
Blanco was thus referring to the 116 million euros that the public company claims from the manufacturer, basically for the two-year delay in the delivery of the trains. A situation that, furthermore, comes to Talgo at a difficult time, because it is in full negotiation with the Basque company Sidenor, which wants to acquire a part of the company’s shareholding, after the offer (takeover bid) launched by the group failed. Hungarian Magyar Vagon, vetoed by the Government for reasons of national security.
The shareholders agreement between the partners who control 40% of the company and who are willing to sell, the Trilantic fund (main partner, with almost 30%) and the Oriol and Abelló families, has just expired with the new year, and now each one can sell their titles separately, although their titles are currently listed at 3.4 euros, very far from the 5 euros offered by that Hungarian group vetoed by the Executive.
The president of Renfe assumes that the relationship with Talgo is “difficult”, especially because of the Avrils. Weeks ago, the state operator stopped paying what it still owes to Talgo for the contract for these trains, those 116 million euros, although it continues to cover the costs of their maintenance, according to knowledgeable sources.
Talgo responded to this decision by Renfe by sending a statement to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). In it, the company opened the door to resort to the courts. “The company, after carrying out an exhaustive analysis of the situation, has proceeded to send a formal response in which it reaffirms the inadmissibility of the penalties imposed,” he assured.
“The company wishes to reiterate its commitment to protecting the interests of all its employees, clients, shareholders and other interest groups and will continue to adopt all necessary legal measures to do so.” Now, in 2025, that tug of war adds a new incident and the year has only just begun.
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