Renfe Class 106 - The Emperor's New Clothes?

The Talgo-built Class 106 high speed trains are posing a headache for Renfe Viajeros, from the very start of commercial services. Matters came to a head following an incident in Madrid on 5 August, prompting the operator to take further action against the manufacturer, which already faces a substantial fine for the late delivery of the trains.

The first storm clouds on the horizon came on the day the 106s entered commercial service, 21 May. The first 106-operated service from Gijón to Madrid arrived in León at 07.42, two minutes late, with 362 passengers on board. 96 more boarded at León... and then had to wait for 15 minutes while a hot axlebox was investigated. The train then had to stop for 11 minutes between Palencia and Valladolid because of an unspecified loss of power. Madrid-Chamartín was eventually reached 21 minutes late.

The inaugural northbound train between Madrid-Chamartín and Gijón also had its problems that morning, with a lengthy stop in open countryside in the vicinity of Valladolid, possibly attributable to a software problem.

Also in trouble on 21 May was the inaugural Class 106 service from Vigo to Madrid, which suffered an unspecified breakdown at Ourense. From there to Ourense-San Francisco the 106 had to be hauled by a Class 130 or 730 Alvia. Mysteriously, the 106 then revived itself and was declared able to continue using its own means. It reached Madrid-Chamartín at 15.47, 133 minutes after its scheduled arrival time, 13.34. There were knock-on adverse delays affecting all high speed services to and from Galicia that morning.

The problems with the 106s became known worldwide when a passenger travelling to Asturias, Alex Sánchez, uploaded a video on Twitter (X) showing the considerable amount of movement that occurred at speed following the train's passage through the gauge-changer south of León station. The movement could only be described as 'alarming', and was said to be comparable to aircraft turbulence. It is a wonder that none of the passengers or staff applied the emergency brake as the situation looked like the train was going to derail... Renfe stated that the train in question was taken out of service for examination afterwards. Train staff on other 106s also reported problems of rough riding and vibrations.

The culmination came on the hot afternoon of 5 August, when a 106 forming an AVLO service from València to Madrid-Chamartín suffered a power failure as it approached the latter station. It stopped while still inside the tunnel which ascends from Madrid-Atocha, ad was stuck for over two hours. Outside temperatures were in the high 30 ºC, while on board the train, without air conditioning, the interior temperature rose to around 40 ºC. Passengers (there were 494 on board) were obliged to break the windows designated for emergency escape to provide a supply of fresh air.

Renfe issued an apology to all those involved, and stated that it was considering taking action against Talgo, relating both to incidents involving the construction contract, and those which had occurred outside the scope of the latter. Clearly the operator's reputation for offering quality high speed services had been damaged because of the problems experienced with the 106s, and compensation will be required.

Renfe has requested, on numerous occasions, from both the Talgo management board and from the manufacturer's shareholders, a solution to the problems that have occurred with the 106s, before and after delivery, and at present the operator is preparing a reliability report on the performance of the trains. Renfe states that it 'reserves the right to undertake whatever actions that might be necessary to defend its rights, its reputation, and the rights of its passengers'.