Yesterday morning, photos began to circulate on WhatsApp groups and social networks showing the frame of a cracked bogie of a 106 series train, of the Talgo Avril platform.
It belongs to the train on which a crack was detected and which caused the withdrawal of the 5 fixed gauge trainsets destined for the Avlo Madrid-Barcelona.
The leak of the images, which Talgo has verified as accurate, has caused quite a stir because, rather than a common crack, the frame seems to be broken, which represents a serious safety problem.
However, Talgo sources have confirmed to Trenvista that the photo was taken in the workshop, with the train stopped after being retired from service and with the bogie having extra load.
In other words, the breakage occurred during a test and with the train immobilised, without it having been in service in this state.
A problem limited to line 050 Madrid-Barcelona-frontier
According to a Renfe report, the crack that caused the images shown here was discovered during tests carried out after repeated reports of stability issues on the section between Puerta de Atocha and km 190+000 of line 050 Madrid-Barcelona-LFP.
Although Renfe denied in a communiqué the withdrawal of the trains and the suspension of ticket sales, the truth is that the 5 units assigned to the Avlo Madrid-Barcelona are out of service while the bogies are being replaced.
The withdrawal has not affected the rest of the trains in the series, as they have passed the inspections without any problems. Moreover, as far as is known, the main instability issues that can cause these cracks originate exclusively on this line.
Workers from the three operators tell Trenvista that these instability issues on this line are not exclusive to the Talgo Avril trains. However, they are the only ones on which cracks have been detected.
According to Renfe’s internal note shared on social networks, Tarvia (the joint company in charge of train maintenance) recommends limiting the maximum speed of the 106 series to 250 km/h on the aforementioned section. However, Adif defends that no other operator has warned of concerns on this stretch.
While the fleet was being reorganised in order to maintain the service, ticket sales were blocked and one of the trains was cancelled. The rest are maintained, using trains of the 103 and 112 series, some of the latter in double composition.