SPANISH National Railways announced on May 10 that five groups had registered to supply between 26 and 40 high speed trains for the 350 km/h line from Madrid to Barcelona. Renfe is evaluating the proposals and will shortly issue a formal invitation to bid, giving suppliers three months to respond. The aim is to have a contract - likely to be worth up to Pts110bn - signed by the end of the year.
Siemens is offering the ICE3, AnsaldoBreda a version of the ETR500, and Alstom has joined forces with CAF to submit three bids: one for a Thalys variant, one for a double-deck TGV and one for the AGV with distributed power. Adtranz and Talgo have proposed their jointly-developed power car (RG 5.00 p316) married with the latest Talgo coaches. The fifth bidder is Bombardier.
On April 27 Renfe initiated bids for eight gauge-convertible trains able to run at 200 km/h worth around Pts12bn. This elicited a response from Talgo, and one from Alstom and CAF, which has just developed its own gauge-convertible bogie called Brava (Bogie de Rodadura de Ancho Variable Autopropulsado). Both powered and trailer Brava bogies are to be tested on a TRD regional trainset using a CAFgauge changing installation at Majarabique near Sevilla.
Infrastructure authority GIF ordered two gauge-convertible track recording trainsets from Patentes Talgo on April 17. Each will consist of a BT diesel power car, two intermediate cars and a driving trailer. They will be delivered in 2002 for use on the Madrid - Barcelona high speed line. The Pts1·3bn contract includes maintenance of the trains for the first five years. Talgo and Adtranz are also offering to maintain the trains they are bidding for the Renfe tenders.
