Bullshit Meter: Le Train to run
anything, ever
with Talgo Avril

There was a rather bizarre long read in Railway Gazette this week about French startup Le Train. Lest we forget that they are currently sans trains, as the Talgo Avril trains they sort of agreed to buy in 2023 are not approved to run in France yet, and Renfe (whose series 106 fleet is the same design) gave up trying.

One presumes Le Train's investors do not want to put any money into the venture until they know the trains are approved to run in France, so a contract between Le Train and Talgo has still not been signed.

In the Railway Gazette piece Le Train nevertheless commit to carrying on with Talgo.

But you have to wonder: is Talgo going to want to be keen to carry on with them?

Other than fixing the bogie cracks on Renfe's trains of this type, and maybe trying to get the trains OKed for future high-ish speed infra in Portugal, what future is there for new orders for this train series? None I would wager.

It's old technology with power cars and unpowered trailers, and to get to a sufficient capacity you need 2+3 seating in 2nd class, which is not at all pleasant. And if Talgo wants to compete to win future tenders against Siemens, Hitachi and Alstom they are going to need something better than this.

So maybe one day we will see a Talgo train in service with Le Train, but I think it is odds strongly against it is an Avril series.