Page 14 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

De la Guerra, Eduardo

Nowadays, the railway carbodies are self-supporting structures made of steel and/or aluminium
alloys and usually consist of a set of sheets and profiles joined together by different classical
bonding technologies such as welding, riveting or bolting forming a set of great stiffness and
currently highly optimized regarding weight per axle, Molinari (2016).

Focusing on aluminium carbodies, which were later developed, but due to the manufacturing
process firstly open and then closed extrusions profiles, can improve stiffness and also avoid
extra reinforcements (see Figure 2) reducing weight compared to steel carbodies. Over time,
aluminium has reached a balanced use compared with steel and is in use in metros, regional
and high speed trains in more or less the same ratio than steel.

Figure 2. Typical aluminium carbody.

Progress has also been made in steel carbodies, with continuous reductions in steel sheet
thicknesses and smarter designs.

2.1 Characteristic of the AVRIL train

Talgo AVRIL (Figure 3) is the most advanced train and the best solution for railway operators
with high capacity demands in the Talgo’s portfolio. AVRIL (Light Independent Wheel High
Speed or “Alta Velocidad Rueda Independiente Ligero” in Spanish) combines maximum speed,
low energy consumption and a high capacity with more than 600 passengers in an extremely
lightweight single-deck train, trying to answer the needs for the railway industry explained
above, Rodríguez (2016).

Figure 3. Talgo AVRIL.

12 360.revista de alta velocidad