Renfe points to Talgo’s “continuous incidents” and demands compensation for the stops of its trains at Chamartn

Rail services have been hit by incidents in recent weeks, including several at Madrid’s Chamartin station, where Renfe has accused its supplier Talgo of being responsible for sparking anger among passengers.

Renfe today targeted the manufacturer for an “increase in serious technical incidents on S106 trains” and is considering action over “contractual and extra-contractual liabilities”.

The listed company believes that due to the recurrence of the 106 series of incidents, its services are suffering “reputational and financial damage in the form of compensation to travelers” sufficient to take its provider to court. “This may be the subject of additional claims for damages already mentioned.” According to the operator of the AVE and AVLO brands, these problems have been recurring since May 21 last year, and both the Talgo board and shareholders have repeatedly called for their immediate resolution.

It so happens that the company is involved in the takeover process of the Hungarian company Ganz Mavag. Both the government and the Minister of Transport Oscar Puente have made it clear that the shareholders consider the friendly Hungarian takeover offer a threat to them and therefore they will do everything to block it. At present, the search for an alternative has not been successful.

The most recent incident occurred yesterday when high-speed rail services between Madrid and Levante were interrupted for two hours and 20 minutes due to the stop of a Renfe train.

The Railway Infrastructure Authority (Adif), a public corporate entity under the Ministry of Transport, stopped the train at 4:39 pm and traffic resumed nearly two hours later. Passengers who were aboard the AVLO operator’s train broke the windows in desperation as they could not leave the train.