What is Talgo Train?

Talgo is a Spanish train manufacturer. It manufactures high-speed trains had submitted proposals to the Indian Railway to deploy Talgo trains in short-distance routes in India in 2016. It had even completed a successful trial run between Mumbai and Delhi.

Talgo trains are known for their unconventional bogie system which helps such trains to turn at greater speeds and with less swaying.

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Design of Talgo Trains

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 a railway car to take a turn at higher speed with less hunting oscillation. As the coaches are not mounted directly onto wheel bogies, the coaches are more easily insulated from track noise. Talgo trains fitted with variable gauge axles can change rail gauge – for instance at the 1,668 mm Iberian gauge/1,435 mm standard gauge at the Spanish-French border interchange.

What is the status of Talgo trains in India?

As per the 2018 news, the government has planned to allow Talgo trains to be deployed for short-distance travel.

However, in 2020, the government has planned to discuss with the Talgo train manufacturers to introduce high-end technically sophisticated trains on track as a part of the Make in India initiative.

What is the speed of the Talgo Train?

The speed of Talgo trains ranges from 120kmph to 150 kmph.

What are the advantages of Talgo trains?

The major advantages of Talgo trains are:

1. These trains can run an amazing speed close to 250 kmph.
2. These trains are lighter in construction which can easily reduce travel time by 30 percent.
3. These are comparatively lower maintenance trains when coaches come into the picture.
4. No major overhauling of tracks is said to be required for running Talgo trains in India

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