Talgo (officially Patentes Talgo, SAU) is a Spanish manufacturer of intercity, standard, and high-speed passenger trains. Talgo is an abbreviation of Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (English: Goicoechea-Oriol Light Articulated Train). The company was founded by Alejandro Goicoechea and José Luis Oriol. It was first incorporated in 1942.
Corporate history The creation of Talgo can be largely credited to the work of Alejandro Goicoechea and José Luis Oriol. During the 1930s, Goicoechea, a pioneering railway engineer, sought to produce a new generation of rolling stock that would be primarily composed of metal, rather than wood; to reduce operational cost, he also emphasised lightweight yet sturdy construction, while a low center of gravity would deter derailing and thus permit higher operating speeds. In 1942, financial backing for the construction of a prototype train was provided by Oriol, which believed in Goicoechea's concepts. The two produced the agreement that established Patentes Talgo as a company that same year. The prototype train would emerge as the Talgo I. During the late 1940s, Talgo came to recognise that Spain, and the wider European continent, were in a poor economic condition following the Second World War and so were unlikely to be customers for new rolling stock from an unproven manufacturer. Furthermore, the company was keen to acquire advanced technical knowledge and designs, so a favourable agreement was struck with American Car and Foundry (ACF) to collaborate on the manufacture of the Talgo II in the United States. The first vehicles arrived in Spain in 1950, enabling the first commercial Talgo II service to be run on 14 July of that year, between Madrid, Spain, and Hendaye, France, as a long distance service of Renfe. It was the first train in Spain to be authorized to travel at a service speed of up to 75 miles per hour (120 km/h). Continued collaboration with ACF led to the creation of the Talgo III during the 1960s, making its official debut as an intercity long distance express between Madrid and Barcelona in August 1964. International rail travel between Spain and the rest of Europe had been historically hampered by the differing track gauge at either side of the Pyrenees. Recognising the value in effectively overcoming that impediment, Talgo developed its own variable-gauge vehicle system, which permitted the first international Talgo trainset, operated by Renfe, to be introduced on passenger services between Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland, in 1969. Variable-gauge trains were soon a common feature of overnight services between various Spanish cities and destinations across Western Europe. Even into the 21st century, the variable-gauge system has largely remained unchanged, even on newly built rolling stock. La Gineta is the site of a test track of the Talgo RD railway gauge changer. During the 1970s, Talgo sought to better accommodate the demand for higher speed trains in Spain. As a consequence of its mountainous terrain, curved tracks prevailed, despite restricting line speeds due to the centrifugal forces exerted on the trains and their contents. To permit higher operating speeds under such conditions, the company developed a tilting train, the Talgo Pendular, that automatically compensated for centrifugal forces by tilting appropriately on bends. Without needing to modify the track infrastructure, this tilting train allowed operating speeds to be increased by up to 25 percent over conventional trains. During the 1970s and 1980s, the company focused its activities largely on the manufacturing of coaching stock rather than locomotives. A renewed focus on locomotive development, incorporating the automatic variable gauge system, came about during the 1990s. The Talgo XXI pioneered various technologies for the company, including new high-speed running gear and hybrid propulsion technology. In 1988, the Spanish government announced its decision to construct a new dedicated high-speed line between Madrid and Seville. Talgo was keen to produce rolling stock for the new venture and immediately set about designing a new series of trains, the Talgo 350. A key feature of this trainset would be its maximum speed, which was 300 km/h (190 mph). In 1998, Talgo partnered with the multinational rolling stock manufacturer Adtranz to collaborate on its bid to secure a contract to provide the rolling stock for the new high-speed line. The company's long-term primary customer, and thus the main source of its revenues, is the Spanish railway operator Renfe. By 2001, Talgo was reportedly spending between 10 and 12 percent of its revenues on various research and development programmes. On 12 May 1999, Talgo announced it had signed a deal to acquire the Finnish rolling stock manufacturer Transtech Oy, which it subsequently reorganised as the wholly owned subsidiary Talgo Oy. In March 2007, Talgo sold its shares in Talgo Oy to a combination of its local management and other Finnish investors, after which the Transtech name was readopted. During the 2010s, it was decided that Talgo would be reorganised as a public company. In May 2015, the company made an initial public offering (IPO) on the Bolsa de Madrid, during which it was valued at €1.27 billion. In recent decades, Talgo has made a renewed effort to expand its presence internationally. During the late 2010s, Talgo made arrangements to establish a new train manufacturing site in the United Kingdom in response to orders for its trains having been placed by multiple British railway operators. In the early 2020s, the company invested in new manufacturing facilities in India with the aiming of securing sizable orders from across the country's railways. In 2025 Basque company Sidenor acquired 20.7% of the company, taking control of it.
Design
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