European Railroad Discussion > French HS 10: Renfe AVE 100

The Spanish high speed systems were in the beginning of their fast development cycle in the early 1990s. Looking at the tried and trusted super high speed trains available then and consulting the map it is easy to find the reason for the choice of also then fastest super high speed train: TGV-Réseau. This type was named for the Spanish networks as AVE 100 (AVE = Alta Velocidad Española, or ave as Spanish for bird). 100 was the first of the long line of AVE trains following in numbers. Class 100 was built for the normal gauge 1435 mm and class 101 for the Spanish gauge 1668 mm. Here the story gets somewhat complicated.

The initial order for the Renfe (officially Renfe Operadora) TGVs was placed for 16 trains: first 10 for the normal gauge and the following 6 for the 1668 gauge. The first 8 trains of the French TGV design were manufactured in 1992 by Alstom at the same time in a hectic process of creating a large fleet of TGV-Réseaus for French SNCF too. As Spain has strong train building knowledge at CAF and Talgo, CAF manufactured the units from 9 onwards. Putting some straight route to some bends it looks like these broad gauge units were later regauged to 1435 mm and another batch of 8 units seems to have appeared. If this information is correct, these units are probably manufactured by CAF too. (This arrangement between the two manufacturers' capacity sharing works both ways: Alstom manufactured for example a batch of Finnish VR
CAF design Sm4 EMUs).

The AVE100 itself is quite standard TGV-Réseau with locomotives at the ends and 8 intermediate trailers. If you look closely, you notice though that the lower half of the hood is more rounded following the ideas of then prototype phase third generation TGV designs (TGV-Duplex). And probably the tastes of the buyer too. But the upper half still has the large "spoiler" to keep the flying debris away from the windows plus quite normal TGV-Atlantique/TGV-Réseau locomotive design. This feature makes it easy to identify the AVE 100 from similar other TGVs. The AVE 100 has again the electrical systems of the trielectric TGV-Réseau: 1550V/3000V/25kV, except that the 1500V used in France was not installed until 2013! It also looks like the trains have been subject to continuous development with train controls systems added and the first refurbishing was applied in 2005 - 2009. 10 units are now receiving another refurbishing while simultaneously the third electricity system is being installed at manufacturer Alstom. Two first units are now in tests around France. The trains are also perfected to run in pairs in this country too.

The plans for Renfe with the current management have always been internationally minded. After several years efforts these are now turning true: Renfe will run the AVE 100s from Spain to France. More information has many variations. Some quote starting points as Barcelona and Madrid, and the end points anywhere from Paris to Avignon or Toulouse. As the Renfe international traffic will start this year in France, we will soon see which are the first destinations and if these will be extended all the way to crowded Paris.

1) AVE 100 unit 15 in Cordoba, Spain

2) AVE 100 on the HS line in Alcoela, Spain

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So, the opportunity for even more variety between Perpignan and Narbonne? I can't wait! The subtle changes are beneficial.

The TR Europe April 2013 arrived yesterday and they had made educated guesses on the routes:

1 - Barcelona Sants >< Toulouse
2 - Barcelona Sants >< Marseille
3 - Barcelona Sants >< Lyon

If these guesses are right, Renfe does not make quite to Paris yet then. But this leaves a lot of opportunities to travel in the South.

Looking at the competition situation (if the Renfe and SNCF would like to do that) the AVE100 transports a little over 300 passengers (unknown after refurbishing), where the TGV-Dasye or TGV-Duplex norm is 526 (including the fold out seats) and Ouigo-Duplex or Ouigo-Dasye 634. This at almost the same production costs. So basically the AVE100 production costs per seat are twice as high as on the TGV-Duplex or TGV-Dasye. Dasye units are used here to push the production costs even lower as the modern AC locomotives need less maintenance than their DC (TGV-Duplex or AVE100) counterparts.

The Renfe was said to pay 30m euros for the 10 unit furbishing where the new trains (TGV-2N2 or TGV-Dasye) would had cost 270m euros. So saving here, as usual, means no chance in competition on the "Grandes Lignes", still leaving opportunities on the smaller and niche markets.

SNCF has also made their move and from April 28th (another educated guess) they will run a fleet of TGV-Dasyes from Paris to Barcelona and the other way, in just 6:15! Knowing SNCF marketing machine this will effectively block much of the market from the other players. And of course, who is there first, always gets a wide margin to the ones who just follow.

McKey Wrote:
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> The TR Europe April 2013 arrived yesterday and
> they had made educated guesses on the routes:
>
> 1 - Barcelona Sants >< Toulouse
> 2 - Barcelona Sants >< Marseille
> 3 - Barcelona Sants >< Lyon
>
The irony of these guesses is that the is a large section of standard speed track from Perpignan to Nimes. The Toulouse run would use only about 20 kilometers of LGV in France. But the concept of through trains will remain the attraction, which, as you say will be pre-empted by SNCF.

Only the TGV PSE types use DC traction motors. The Reseau, Atlantique, and Duplex use 3-phase AC Synchronous Motors. The newer Dayse, PSO, and 2N2 use 3-phase Asynchronous Motors.

Thanks for the correction! My mistake on three different motor types. There is actually even the fourth type in use, but for the moment under AGV.