114-485: Talgo (officially Patentes Talgo, SAU ) is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains . Talgo is an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (English: Lightweight articulated train Goicoechea Oriol ). The company was founded by Alejandro Goicoechea and José Luis Oriol . It was first incorporated in 1942. The creation of Talgo can be largely credited to
228-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,
342-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,
456-731: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between
570-542: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate
684-492: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than
798-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. In the process, it powers a piston that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to
912-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for
1026-594: A contract to provide the rolling stock for the new high-speed line. The company's long-term primary customer, and thus the main source of its revenues, is the Spanish railway operator Renfe . By 2001, Talgo was reportedly spending between 10 and 12 percent of its revenues on various research and development programmes. On 12 May 1999, Talgo announced it had signed a deal to acquire the Finnish rolling stock manufacturer Transtech Oy , which it subsequently reorganised as
1140-496: A delay in the delivery date to Egypt. This negates the words of the Minister of Transport who justified that train is a gift from the company for President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. On 9 August 2022, Egypt contracted for seven trains from Talgo, which included 15-year maintenance, for 280 million euros. The trains will be delivered at the beginning of 2024. In addition to the multiple units with variable gauge , Talgo built in 2005
1254-597: A demonstration on the Mumbai - Delhi rail route. On 10 September 2016, the final successful test run of the Talgo 9 series coaches was completed in India. The Talgo 250 is a dual voltage electric train (AC/DC) equipped with variable gauge axles . This allows the units to be used on high-speed lines and on conventional broad gauge lines. A Talgo 250 train consists of two power cars and 11 Talgo VII intermediate coaches. This class
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#17327800420551368-550: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through
1482-478: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in
1596-477: A full-service bistro and lounge car. In 2014, the state of Michigan expressed interest in operating the unused Talgo 8 cars for their Amtrak Wolverine service. Three years later, Amtrak proposed to lease or buy the unused cars in the wake of the 2017 Washington train derailment . Ultimately, the two trainsets were sold to Nigeria for use on the Lagos Rail Mass Transit . This series, which
1710-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along
1824-498: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It
1938-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement remains dominant for freight trains and is often used for passenger trains. A push–pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of
2052-467: A new dedicated high-speed line between Madrid and Seville. Talgo was keen to produce rolling stock for the new venture and immediately set about designing a new series of trains, the Talgo 350 . A key feature of this trainset would be its maximum speed, which was 300 km/h (190 mph). In 1998, Talgo partnered with the multinational rolling stock manufacturer Adtranz to collaborate on its bid to secure
2166-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as
2280-676: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive
2394-465: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in
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#17327800420552508-460: A prototype of a variable gauge locomotive (the L-9202, TRAV-CA, 130-901 or Virgen del Buen Camino). Rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport ) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport , next to road transport . It
2622-456: A railway car to take a turn at higher speeds with less hunting oscillation . As the coaches are not mounted directly onto wheel bogies, the coaches are more easily insulated from track noise. This design has been proposed for further utilisation in the Talgo 22, double deck train with stepless access from the platform to the lower deck and between carriages. Talgo trains fitted with variable gauge axles can change rail gauge - for instance at
2736-439: A revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep
2850-739: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in
2964-478: A special meaning: Travel tickets are available from rail stations and online. In 2023 the European Commission initiated an investigation into concerns that Renfe might have been abusing its dominant position in the online ticketing market by refusing to share journey time information with competing ticketing websites. Renfe offered a number of commitments intended to address these concerns, which
3078-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which
3192-632: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
3306-513: A train known as "AVRIL" (Alta Velocidad Rueda Independiente Ligero — Light High-Speed Independent Wheel), intended for speeds of 380 kilometres per hour (240 mph). The system uses underfloor traction in the front and rear vehicles, with the intermediate carriages having the Talgo Pendular system (which cannot use motored axles on the axles corresponding to the system). The train also has the option for variable gauge axles. Starting with
3420-716: A two-axle end bogie. These trains are designed for the North American market. Talgo made an agreement in 2009 to build a manufacturing facility in Wisconsin which would initially supply two 14-car trainsets for the Amtrak Hiawatha until the project was cancelled. The company expressed hope the plant would later be used to build trains for other U.S. rail projects. Early in 2010, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced that it had negotiated
3534-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising
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3648-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with
3762-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is
3876-479: Is generally termed "European gauge" in Spain. Construction of a high-speed rail line between Madrid and Seville began in 1988 and began operations in 1991, going 300 km/h (190 mph). The second high-speed rail line (Madrid to Barcelona ) was completed in 2007 with the inaugural service commencing on 20 February 2008. The operational speed on this route is 350 km/h (220 mph). The greater part of
3990-673: Is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with
4104-556: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered
4218-481: The 1,668 mm Iberian gauge / 1,435 mm standard gauge at the Spanish-French border interchange. Since the introduction of the Talgo Pendular in 1980, the train tilts naturally inwards on curves , allowing it to run faster on curves without causing discomfort to passengers. The carriage tilting system pivots around the top of the suspension columns, which has the effect of partially cancelling
4332-779: The American Car and Foundry Company (ACF) works in the United States under the direction of Spanish engineers (the diesel-electric locomotives were assembled by ACF with electrical components made by General Electric). Talgo II carried most of the Jet Rocket train's passengers between Chicago and Peoria, Illinois , after entering service on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (the Rock Island line) in 1956. Slightly different coaches were later introduced, and
4446-478: The Boston and Maine Railroad for its " Speed Merchant " train, running between Boston and Portland, Maine . Soon afterwards, Talgo II trains began running in Spain and were successfully operated until 1972. Talgo III coaches and locomotives entered service in 1964, introducing longer cars and easy directional reversibility of the coaches. The Talgo III/RD was equipped with variable gauge axles , and this permitted
4560-720: The General Roca Railway . They have since been replaced by CRRC Dalian rolling stock. In September 2022, the Talgo IV sets were transported to the Villa Luro workshop to undergo repairs, aiming to add an extra daily service between Buenos Aires and Rosario. The sets used on the Amtrak Cascades have been replaced by Amtrak-owned Horizon cars. Talgo 200 series trains are also in use in Kazakhstan for
4674-485: The Pyrenees . Recognising the value in effectively overcoming that impediment, Talgo developed its own variable-gauge vehicle system, which permitted the first international Talgo to be introduced on passenger service between Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland, in 1969. Variable-gauge trains were soon a common feature of overnight services between various Spanish cities and destinations across Western Europe. Even into
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4788-678: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates
4902-426: The nationalisation of Spain's railways. As per EU Directive 91/440 , Renfe was divided into Renfe Operadora (operations) and ADIF (infrastructure) on 1 January 2005. At the same time, the existing Renfe logo (nicknamed the "galleta", Spanish for biscuit), first introduced in 1971, was replaced by a dark purple lower-case wordmark designed by Interbrand. Separate logos used by the other sectors were also replaced, but
5016-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail. Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover . The energy transmission may be either diesel–electric , diesel-mechanical or diesel–hydraulic but diesel–electric
5130-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron
5244-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as
5358-432: The "natural tilting" train, using a passive system that tilts the carriages with no need for electronic sensors or hydraulic equipment. The wheels are mounted on mono axles between the carriages, and sitting on top of the axles are suspension columns. The carriages are attached to the top of the suspension columns and swing inwards as the train goes through a curve. In 1988, a Talgo Pendular was used on trials for Amtrak on
5472-540: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had
5586-521: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before
5700-508: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),
5814-452: The 1970s and 1980s, the company focused its activities largely on the manufacturing of coaching stock rather than locomotives. A renewed focus on locomotive development, incorporating the automatic variable gauge system, came about during the 1990s. The Talgo XXI pioneered various technologies for the company, including new high-speed running gear and hybrid propulsion technology. In 1988, the Spanish government announced its decision to construct
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#17327800420555928-456: The 21st century, the variable-gauge system has largely remained unchanged, even on newly-built rolling stock. La Gineta is the site of a test track of the Talgo RD railway gauge changer . During the 1970s, Talgo sought to better accommodate the demand for higher speed trains in Spain. As a consequence of its mountainous terrain, curved tracks prevailed, despite restricting line speeds due to
6042-464: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed
6156-457: The Almaty–Astana overnight train. The Talgo VII introduced beginning in 2000 is used as a locomotive-pulled train set as well as intermediate cars for the multiple units Talgo 250 , Talgo 350 and Talgo XXI . The carriages are similar to the Talgo Pendular type but have an air-controlled hydraulic brake system and power supply from head end power instead of diesel engine-generators in
6270-727: The Boston-New York corridor in the United States and on Deutsche Bahn lines in Germany. Trial commercial services with Talgo cars in the US commenced in 1994 between Seattle and Portland, and from 1998 different trains have been used on the Amtrak Cascades services from Vancouver, British Columbia to Seattle, Washington , continuing via Portland, Oregon to Eugene, Oregon . Five Talgo IV trains were in use in Argentina on
6384-530: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became
6498-514: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed
6612-563: The Renfe AVE Class 102 marking the company's entry into the high-speed train manufacturing market. Tests with the prototype commenced in 1994, and Talgo 350 trains have been operating at a top commercial speed of 330 km/h on the Madrid - Barcelona and Madrid- Valladolid lines since 22 December 2007. This series of trains is designed to reach a speed of 350 km/h (220 mph), although present lines and commercial services limit
6726-535: The Talgo XXI attained 256 km/h (159 mph) on the Olmedo-Medina del Campo high speed experimental line on 9 July 2002, which led to a claim for the world speed record for a diesel train . However, this claim was never proven. After the test runs the train was sold to the Spanish infrastructure authority ADIF as a measuring train for high-speed lines. Possible specs are: Talgo has developed recently
6840-428: The aiming of securing sizable orders from across the country's railways. Talgo trains are best known for their unconventional articulated railway passenger cars that use in-between carriage bogies that Talgo patented in 1941, similar to the earlier Jacobs bogie . The wheels are mounted in pairs but not joined by an axle and the bogies are shared between coaches rather than underneath individual coaches. This allows
6954-503: The centrifugal forces exerted on the trains and their contents. To permit higher operating speeds under such conditions, the company developed a tilting train , the Talgo Pendular , that automatically compensated for centrifugal forces by tilting appropriately on bends. Without needing to modify the track infrastructure, this tilting train allowed operating speeds to be increased by up to 25 percent over conventional trains. During
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#17327800420557068-454: The company was keen to acquire advanced technical knowledge and designs, so a favourable agreement was struck with American Car and Foundry (ACF) to collaborate on the manufacture of the Talgo II in the United States. The first vehicles arrived in Spain in 1950, enabling the first commercial Talgo II service to be run on 14 July of that year, between Madrid, Spain and Hendaye, France. It was
7182-667: The concept stage in 2009, it began dynamic testing on the Spanish high-speed network in 2014, and was approved in May 2016. It won its first major contract in November 2016 from Renfe for the Mediterranean corridor in Spain, and its link to Paris. The first AVRIL trains started operations in May 2024 on routes from Madrid to Catalonia, Asturias and Galicia. In April 2019, Egypt ordered new Talgo trains. Egypt contracted for six trains from Talgo Company, but they became seven trains due to
7296-636: The construction of a prototype train was provided by Oriol, which believed in Goicoechea's concepts. The two produced the agreement that established Patentes Talgo as a company that same year. The prototype train would emerge as the Talgo I . During the late 1940s, Talgo came to recognise that Spain, and the wider European continent, were in a poor economic condition following the Second World War and so were unlikely to be customers for new rolling stock from an unproven manufacturer. Furthermore,
7410-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as
7524-516: The effects of lateral acceleration when cornering. Talgo trains are divided into generations. They come in both locomotive hauled and self-propelled versions. The Talgo I was built in 1942 in Spain. The coaches were built at the "Hijos de Juan Garay" workshop in Oñati and the power car was built at the workshops of the "Compañía del Norte" in Valladolid . It was built as a prototype, and it
7638-473: The end cars. Talgo VII trains have a car which has two pairs of wheels in the middle of the set (of cars) rather than at one end of the set, which is the case for earlier Talgo trains. All the other cars in the set have a single pair of wheels. The Series 8 passenger cars are similar to the Series VII cars, but the diesel generator car at one end of the train has a control cabin for push-pull operation and
7752-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering
7866-471: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until
7980-527: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon
8094-475: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near
8208-701: The firing of the executives deemed responsible. Fortunately, the trains were still being designed, however the Cercanía commuter trains will be delayed until 2026. Subsequently, transport officials including the president of Renfe and the Secretary of State for Transport resigned. In November 2024, Renfe bought a 33% shareholding in Arenaways . Renfe-Operadora utilises the following rolling stock and commercial products inside of its two divisions: All classes are designated by three numbers. The first digit has
8322-522: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on
8436-658: The first stage of a high-speed line in Galicia opened in 2011. A line to Lisbon is being designed. Other lines operated by Renfe include Euromed , a moderate-speed line between Barcelona and Alicante. In addition to intercity transport, Renfe operates commuter train systems, known as Cercanías (or Rodalies in Catalonia and Cercanías-Aldirikoak in the Basque Country), in eleven metropolitan areas, including Madrid and Barcelona. In some cities, Renfe shares
8550-531: The first train in Spain to be authorized to travel at a service speed of up to 75 miles per hour (120 km/h). Continued collaboration with ACF led to the creation of the Talgo III during the 1960s. It was brought into service between Madrid and Barcelona in August 1964. International rail travel between Spain and the rest of Europe had been historically hampered by the differing track gauge at either side of
8664-413: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. Renfe Renfe ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈreɱfe] , Eastern Catalan: [ˈreɱfə] ), officially Renfe-Operadora , is Spain 's national state-owned railway company. It was created in 2005 upon
8778-562: The introduction, on 1 June 1969, of the first through train between Barcelona and Geneva (the Catalan Talgo ), despite the difference in rail gauge . The same equipment was used for the Barcelona Talgo , which began operation on 26 May 1974 as the first-ever through train service between Barcelona and Paris. The Talgo Pendular (Talgo IV and Talgo V, also VI & Talgo 200 or 6th generation), introduced in 1980, created
8892-672: The invention of the steam locomotive in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In
9006-569: The last car type of the Jet Rocket resembled that of the future Talgo III. The New York Central Railroad trialed a complete train until 1958 but saw little success. Talgo IIs also entered service under Renfe as the Renfe Class 350 , where they ran between Madrid and Palencia. Talgo IIs were also built for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad for its " John Quincy Adams " train from New York City to Boston, Massachusetts , and
9120-1230: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with
9234-399: The line (Madrid to Lleida ) was entered service on 11 October 2003, with a connection to Huesca from Zaragoza . The third high-speed line (Madrid to Toledo ) was opened in November 2005, followed by a spur from Córdoba to Málaga as far as Antequera in 2007. Another high-speed route from Madrid to Valladolid was opened in 2007. A line from Madrid to Valencia was opened in 2010, and
9348-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight. A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar
9462-434: The main business units into four general directorates: In June 2013, Renfe's board agreed to restructure the group into four separate companies under the holding company: The company operates some 12,000 km (7,500 mi) of railways, 7,000 km (4,300 mi) of them electrified. Most of the tracks are constructed to the broad Iberian gauge of 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ),
9576-569: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using
9690-655: The market with other commuter railway operators, such as FGC . In 2019, Renfe solicited bids for 31 new trains for the Asturias and Cantabria regions and the €258m contract was awarded to the CAF ( Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles ) in June 2020. Around February 2023, authorities discovered the designs were for the wrong loading gauge and would be too wide for the tunnels. Amidst international embarrassment, Renfe and ADIF each tried to deflect responsibility, and some called for
9804-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used
9918-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to
10032-427: The old Renfe logo remains in use in some stations in Spain and on maps to indicate an ADIF station. The Railway Sector Act, 2003 separated the management, maintenance and construction of rail infrastructure from train operation. The first activity is now the responsibility of Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), while the newly created Renfe-Operadora (also known as Grupo Renfe or simply Renfe) owns
10146-525: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive
10260-603: The purchase of two 13-car trainsets for use in the Pacific Northwest rail corridor between Eugene and Vancouver, British Columbia. These trainsets were also manufactured in Wisconsin and were delivered in 2013. The sets are currently operating in the "Cascades" corridor in the Pacific Northwest. They have been integrated with the five existing sets in regular service. The Series 8 trains offer passengers many modern amenities including high-speed Wi-Fi, reclining seats and
10374-466: The rolling stock and remains responsible for the planning, marketing and operation of the passenger and freight services. Renfe no longer has a monopoly on domestic passenger services due to Ouigo España launching in 2021, followed by Iryo in 2022. Renfe-Operadora inherited the management model of the old Renfe, which made Renfe-Operadora responsible for the operation of the passenger and freight services. In January 2006, Renfe-Operadora restructured
10488-522: The same as that used in Portugal but wider than the international gauge of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) which is standard in most of the rest of the world. The newer high-speed ( AVE ) network has been built to the international standard gauge of 1,435 mm for the connection to the rest of the European railway system. For this reason, the 1,435 mm gauge
10602-527: The speed to 330 km/h (205 mph). The train consists of two power cars and Talgo VII intermediate cars with improved brakes and additional primary suspension. Talgo XXI is a project for a high-speed diesel-powered train, that operates in push-pull with one or two power cars and Talgo VII intermediate cars. The North American version has four-axle power cars in compliance with United States FRA regulations. Only one train in compliance with European UIC standards has been built to date. Talgo reported that
10716-476: The split of the former Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE) into the Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), which inherited the infrastructure, and Renfe-Operadora, which inherited the railway service. The name "Renfe" (acronym of Re d N acional de los F errocarriles E spañoles ) is derived from that of the former Spanish National Railway Network created on 24 January 1941 with
10830-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented
10944-475: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built
11058-543: The track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using
11172-416: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from
11286-629: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,
11400-565: The wholly-owned subsidiary Talgo Oy . In March 2007, Talgo sold its shares in Talgo Oy to a combination of its local management and other Finnish investors, after which the Transtech name was readopted. During the 2010s, it was decided that Talgo would be reorganised as a public company . In May 2015, the company made an initial public offering (IPO) on the Bolsa de Madrid , during which it
11514-439: The work of Alejandro Goicoechea and José Luis Oriol . During the 1930s, Goicoechea, a pioneering railway engineer, sought to produce a new generation of rolling stock that would be primarily composed of metal, rather than wood; to reduce operational cost, he also emphasised lightweight yet sturdy construction, while a low center of gravity would deter derailing and thus permit higher operating speeds. In 1942, financial backing for
11628-559: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all
11742-512: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to
11856-602: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played
11970-514: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It
12084-706: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system
12198-845: Was developed for Renfe (classed as S-130). One trainset (RENFE Class 730) was involved in the Santiago de Compostela accident on 24 July 2013. Uzbekistan Railways ordered two Talgo 250 sets of a Russian gauge version in 2009. The first set arrived at Tashkent in July 2011. The Talgo 250 Hybrid is a dual-voltage, dual-power train equipped with variable gauge axles. The train is therefore also able to operate on non-electrified lines. A Talgo 250 Hybrid train consists of two power cars, two technical end coaches and nine Talgo VII intermediate coaches. The trains were developed for Renfe and classed initially as S-130H, later as S-730. They are rebuilt from existing Talgo 250 trains. The Talgo 350 entered service as
12312-548: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,
12426-489: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This
12540-475: Was originally designed for Russia and Kazakhstan , featured wide bodyshells and wheelsets. There are three versions, consisting of either 1520 mm fixed gauge, 1520-1435 mm variable gauge or 1520-1676 mm variable gauge. They are used in the Berlin - Moscow line (December 2016), St. Petersburg-Moscow-Samara (August 2020). In July 2015, Talgo stated its intention to ship a Series 9 train to India at its own cost as
12654-762: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It
12768-636: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting
12882-581: Was used to set several rail speed records. The first test run occurred between Madrid and Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha in October 1942. It had a max speed of 115 km/h (71 mph) on uphills and 135 km/h (84 mph) on flat/downhills. The trainset was destroyed on February 5, 1944 after approximately 3000 km of testing in a fire at its storage location, a warehouse in Cerra Negro. Talgo II coaches and locomotives were first built in 1950 at
12996-416: Was valued at €1.27 billion. In recent decades, Talgo has made a renewed effort to expand its presence internationally. During the late 2010s, Talgo made arrangements to establish a new train manufacturing site in the United Kingdom in response to orders for its trains having been placed by multiple British railway operators. In the early 2020s, the company invested in new manufacturing facilities in India with
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