Alstom celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first high speed train in Spain

On 14th April 1992, an Alstom train carried out the first run on the high speed train line Madrid – Seville.

This week Alstom Spain celebrates the arrival of high speed to our country, an occasion for which the company played a special role. The first train to circulate at 300km/h on Spanish railway lines was the model known as series 100 and it was designed, manufactured and maintained by Alstom. Throughout the testing period, one of the trains reached 356.8 km/h, which was a clear milestone in high speed train history. Following this first train, a further 23 trains followed suite, the majority manufactured in Alstom´s industrial site in Barcelona.

Today, 20 years later, Alstom´s trains continue operating successfully on the Madrid-Seville line and are a reference in Spanish high speed travel for the highest safety and comfort levels and the outstanding punctuality records. As a fact, it continues being the train with the best punctuality records, currently at 99.8% according to the operator Renfe.

“Alstom Transport Spain has been a key player in the modernisation process of the Spanish railway industry and in the way which Spanish people understand railway travel. We were pioneers with the introduction of high speed, modern tramways in our cities, driverless metros, high speed regional trains, private-public partnerships for railway projects, etc.”, highlighted Antonio Moreno, Managing Director of Alstom Transport Spain.

As such, the arrival of high speed to our country caused a change in the way Spanish people perceived railway travel, considered up until then a slow and unpunctual means of transport. “We went from the concept of slow trains to high speed train technology”, confirms Moreno, “and since then we have achieved positioning Spanish high speed as a worldwide reference”. In fact, Alstom Spain´s facilities are a good example of this within our group, which ranges from the manufacturing of rolling stock (trains, tramways, metros, commuter trains, regional trains), to top of the range signalling systems, railway infrastructure and maintenance. Currently, 70% of Alstom Spain´s production is destined to export markets.

Alstom, pioneer in high speed

With more than 30 years of experience in high speed, Alstom is worldwide leader in the manufacturing of trains, signalling systems and maintenance of high and very high speed train lines. Alstom´s range of trains include duplex trains, with front and distributed traction, articulated and non-articulated as well as models reaching commercial speeds of 360 km/h. Currently, some 1,200 high speed trains manufactured by Alstom circulate worldwide and Alstom holds the world railway speed record of 574.8 km/h.

About Alstom Spain

In Spain, Alstom´s industrial presence has increased over the last 20 years following the acquisition and modernisation of the old railway companies belonging to INI, the acquisition of Ecotècnia for wind power and the incorporation of our power transmission business. Alstom Spain employs around 4,000 people, has 5 R&D centres, 6 industrial sites and over 30 working sites. All the Group´s activities are represented both commercially and on an industrial basis with yearly sales of almost 1 billion euros.

Alstom is a global leader in the world of power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure and sets the benchmark for innovative and environmentally friendly technologies. Alstom builds the fastest train and the highest capacity automated metro in the world, provides turnkey integrated power plant solutions and associated services for a wide variety of energy sources, including hydro, nuclear, gas, coal and wind, and it offers a wide range of solutions for power transmission, with a focus on smart grids. The Group employs 92,700 people in more than 100 countries, and had sales of over €20.9 billion in 2010/11.

Press Contact – Alstom Spain 
Irma Aguado – Tel.: +34 91 334 56 81 - irma.aguado@crn.alstom.com - www.alstom.es

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