Adif orders Talgo track inspection train to monitor high-speed lines
Posted: 11 October 2019 | Global Railway Review | No comments yet
Adif, Spain’s rail infrastructure manager, has awarded Talgo a contract worth €39 million to supply a state-of-the-art track laboratory train nick-named ‘Dr. Avril’ to inspect and maintain the country’s high-speed rail network.
Artist’s impression of Talgo’s Dr Avril high-speed inspection train for Adif / Credit: Emilio J. Rodríguez Posada
The order not only includes the manufacture of the train but also a comprehensive maintenance service for five years, the supply of systems, subsystems and spare parts, plus the installation of detection equipment.
The train will be capable of reaching a maximum speed of 330km/h in operation, and will have two power cars and six trailer cars. Informally named by the manufacturer as Dr. Avril, for its ability to detect any type of infrastructure imperfection, however small, the train will include all the similar technological characteristics of Talgo’s very-high-speed vehicle platform. Talgo’s low-floor Avril design is wider than comparable trains, which provides more space for housing the monitoring equipment and giving more space for operating staff.
Adif is currently operating other inspection trains from Talgo, including a Series 330 ‘Seneca’ electric trainset for 350km/h operation on 1,435mm gauge high-speed lines.
