AVE Class 103
Encyclopedia
The AVE Class 103 is a series of AVE high speed trains
AVE
Alta Velocidad Española is a service of high-speed rail in Spain operated by Renfe, the Spanish national railway company, at speeds of up to . The name is literally translated from Spanish as "Spanish High Speed", but also a play on the word , meaning "bird".AVE trains run on a network of...

 for the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 state-run railway company RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

.
Trains have been constructed by Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

, as the first member of the company's Velaro
Siemens Velaro
Siemens Velaro is a family of high-speed EMU trains used in Europe and China. The Velaro is based on Deutsche Bahn's ICE 3 high-speed trains, but is a full Siemens product unlike the ICE 3 which involved other manufacturers....

 family.

History

On 24 March 2001, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

 won one half of RENFE
RENFE
Renfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .- History :The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...

's tender to supply 32 high-speed trains for the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line
Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line
The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona, in Spain...

, offering a modified version of the ICE 3
ICE 3
ICE 3 is a family of high-speed EMUs of Deutsche Bahn. It includes classes 403 and 406, which are known as ICE 3 and ICE 3M respectively...

 high-speed train used by German Railways (Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

) for its InterCityExpress
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...

 service. Changes involved an up-rate to higher power (8,800 kW) for higher acceleration and top speed to cover the 651 km (404.5 mi) between Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 and Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 in 2h30m, the ability to operate in a high range of temperatures, and a different interior.

The ICE 3
ICE 3
ICE 3 is a family of high-speed EMUs of Deutsche Bahn. It includes classes 403 and 406, which are known as ICE 3 and ICE 3M respectively...

 trains were a joint production with other Germany-based train manufacturers, who refused to supply parts or sell licenses to Siemens for the AVE Class 103. This caused a delay (for which Siemens eventually paid €21 million), during which Siemens had to re-develop the missing components. However, at the end of this development, Siemens had a complete high-speed train platform, which it named Velaro. The AVE Class 103 was intended as only the first member of a whole family, therefore, it was named by Siemens as the Velaro E.

The AVE Class 103 has been certified to run at 350 km/h (217.5 mph). During testing between Madrid and Zaragoza, on 16 July 2006, train 005 reached 403.7 km/h (250.8 mph). This is both the current national rail speed record for Spain, and also the current speed record for a normal series train in standard configuration.

On 23 December 2005, RENFE ordered a further 10 identical trains (Siemens designation Velaro E2). Currently, all 26 trains from both orders have been delivered and are in service.

Specifications

The certified top speed of the AVE Class 103 is 350 km/h (217 mph), currently the highest for any train in the world, although the Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...

 AGV
Automotrice à grande vitesse
The Automotrice à grande vitesse ' is an Alstom train intended as the successor to France’s TGV high-speed trains; the name stands for automotrice à grande vitesse, or ‘high-speed self-propelled carriage’...

, currently conducting extensive tests, aims for certification at 360 km/h (224 mph).

The class has distributed traction, traction equipment was moved underfloor, with powered bogies distributed in alternate carriages along the length of the train. This removes the need for driving units at either end, which AVE Class 100 and 102 have, allowing a better use of space, better energy efficiency, better acceleration at lower speeds, and better ability to climb grades. For the AVE Class 103, four of the eight cars were fitted with two powered bogies each.

Electronically, the train is actually two identical half-trains of four coaches each, each with an independent power system, apart from the active pantograph (only a single pantograph is raised on AC-fed rail lines) and a high voltage line along the entire length of the 8-car train.

The train's capacity of 404 passengers is split between three classes; with two coupled 8-car trains total capacity is therefore 808 passengers. In the end coaches (driving trailers), glass screens separate the driver and passengers, and allow passengers the same views as the driver, just as in the ICE 3 and other Velaros. The driver can turn these opaque
Opacity (optics)
Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...

 if necessary or preferred.

In Service

The AVE Class 103 entered commercial service on 22 June 2007, between Madrid and the temporary end of the line to Barcelona near Tarragona.

While the trains and the tracks were commissioned for a regular top speed of 350 km/h (217.5 mph), the train control and signalling system necessary for such operation, ETCS Level 2, was not ready for service. Thus commercial top speed is limited to the maximum Spanish authorities approve for the line with ETCS Level 1 since 7 May 2007, 300 km/h (186 mph).

ERTMS is technically capable of supporting speeds of up to 500 km/h, but the signal spacing on the Madrid-Barcelona line is only sufficient to support speeds of 300 km/h.

From the opening of the Córdoba-Málaga high-speed rail line on 24 December 2007, the AVE Class 103 were also used from Madrid to Málaga.

On 20 February 2008, the final section of the Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line
Madrid-Barcelona high-speed rail line
The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona, in Spain...

into Barcelona was opened. From that day, the AVE Class 103 were used for the faster services between Madrid and Barcelona, achieving the shortest travel time of 2h38m on the non-stop runs.

External links

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