Why the BRAND NEW Talgo Avril is Europe's WORST High Speed Train

This is more of a complex thing that it might seem, let me explain. Renfe asked for a train that basically did not exist: one capable of going through any track of Europe without any modification, and all done automatically within the train itself. This means one single train capable of ruling in different track gauges (particularly inside Spain) and changing electrical currents (AC, DC and varying voltages), whilst being certified to reach a top speed of 360 km/h commercially. On top of that, they wanted a high capacity train and preferably low floor. Renfe’s tender consisted of two parts: a normal high speed train and the mentioned before. Since Talgo was the only one capable of doing the latter (as they already had the gauge changing technology), they won the contract. Also, their offered price was lower than the rest. However, the entry to service was delayed, as it was obvious that Renfe’s request were too much, specially with the small timeframe to design, build and test the train of 4 years. The pressures over Talgo to deliver the trains (due to Renfe not having trains to operate the newly built HS lines in northern Spain) made them deliver a train that had unfixed issues. Among these issues: high vibrations, systems shutting down, or simply the whole train stopping for no reason. Talgo blames Renfe for the pressure (also politics got involved) and Adif (the railway administrator) for not letting Talgo test the train with enough frequency in different tracks. And now Renfe wants lawsuit Talgo for the defects on the trains. A thing to notice is that the highly reduced price of these trains is not really due to the cheapness of materials/components, but because it has less bogies (or rodales as Talgo calls them), which highly reduces the price. On a side note, the seats are Renfe’s issue, nothing to do with Talgo as such (they install the seating the customer asks for), just like all the interior layout. In my personal opinion, Talgo was too ambitious with this train. The funny part is that IT IS capable of doing all they promised, but with compromises that could not get fixed with the time they had. Also, the vibrations vary a lot with the tracks, as this train goes outside of the HS line too (the only one to do so in the Spanish network), and on wether the specific variant is gauge changing or not. Additionally, the wheels have a totally more technology that aligns them automatically with the track to reduce stress and make the train more efficient, and it’s been rumored that that’s the cause of the elevated shaking. I hope that they will fix the issues on the train as they did with the S130 back then, which has now become a pretty reliable train (although it also experiences some vibrations, but not much more than other trains). The layout and seats should just be a little investment from Renfe, which I hope they do.

I find the title of your video quite demagogic. Surely it is not the best high speed service, but a 3 hours journey in a brand new train at 300km/h for 37€ definetly is not the worst service of Europe at all. In fact, it is an excellent value for money.

There was something similar happening in Poland last year, where it was discovered that the train manufacturer deliberately was messing up with train software so the trains were breaking at predefined time intervals. Obviously that given train manufacturer was the only one able to fix the issues. All this was discovered by a group of hackers employed by a train repair company...

Those Nayax card terminals on vending machines are responsible for sooooo many lost sales. I've noticed in UK stations, they've swapped 'em out for simpler card terminals

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??? Well, Talgo has been around for years and years, it's hardly a new and untried concept, there seem to be a few issues with these but they seems to be related to the dynamics of the design, it's hardly as if RENFE chose something completely untried. They did specify a cheap style of seat and a high density seating layout, that is true

Just a comment about the wireless headphone connection. The interface is not clear but you can connect bluetooth headphones by clicking on the headset icon in the upper right corner. Tried it yesterday, works well, it even stops the audio/movie if an announcement is going on

Yes i did enjoy watching your Talgo Avril High Speed Train review, not a bad price fare for the distance you traveled all-in-all., pitty about all those issues you experienced while onboard. That buffetcar food selection looked pretty good though, awesome travel video there OM the Rails👍

Talgo - as always (sadly) - is doing a great job to once again deliver a disappointing product. The step free access is a real plus but Talgos design leads to reaaaally uncomfortable rides, even at low speeds.

The airport style safety check, became mandatory after the 11 March of 2004 islamic terrorist attacks on several regional trains, that killed 193 people. So i'm glad that the safety controls are there.

Thank you for this interesting video. I am surprised at your many criticisms of this new Talgo variant, having travelled on every other type other type, which I find very good. The Talgo trains have always had single axles, and generally they ride pretty well, especially at high speed between Barcelona and Madrid. Let’s hope the new ones settle down soon ! Interestingly Deutsche Bahn are now taking delivery of a large fleet of Talgo trains which will be locomotive hauled in push-pull mode between Berlin and Amsterdam. Now that really will be a train to try out !

You can connect wireless headphones to the screens using Bluetooth.

An interesting assessment. Unfortunately, ride quality seems to have gone downhill on modern rolling stock. Certainly true with the current class 80x in the UK compared with the old Mk3 stock. Some of that is to do with the need to fit within modern absolute gauge requirements (Uniform Structure Gauge (USG) EN 15273), with the avoidance of air suspension for that reason, but there was something well done with the old Mk3s, especially when the permanent way wasn’t perfect.

Your comments in the video and the images.... dont fit really good.... (the images show a really good product). I have traveled in the Siemens Velaro (ICE...) High Speed trains and they have really unconfortable seats, hard like rocks. Besides the difference of level with the floor, at the time of boarding them makes old people, women with big trolleys, etc the need to ask for help. Crazy concept. That doesnt happen with any Talgo. Did u forget to comment it? 😇

So comparing these train sets to the high speed trains built by Alstom and Siemens which do you prefer for ride quality? (Im not familiar with Hitachi and Stadler’s high speed product line in Europe)

Sounds like a classic case of doing too much in one train.

Great price though. Especially compared to other European countries.

what is the advantage of the single axle design over traditional articulated sets such as the TGV?

The duck nosed Talgo and the Haramain havent been so widely criticised. Im curious as to why this one appears to have had such a bad reception Also note that swedish trains, are 2 + 2 first class, they are 3.4 m wide. Likewise KTX EMUs and Shinkansen Green Car.

This is depending from you are from, if you are British or American, travel in a high speed train is something special and you want services on it, for Spanish, travel in high speed trains is a routine so any train that takes you to the place you want on time is a good train, and this one is the best basically because it can take you to places other models can’t, new technology comes with problems that it will be fixed, but think that you couldn’t have done this trip if this train doesn’t exist.

You ahould be proud about the things that ACTUALLY were working like A/C, lights... ahhh it was moving... seriously, those train often suffer from electricity issues, sometimes leaving passengers stuck for hours shutted down.