THE first of two new UTY Talgo 250 very high-speed trains has arrived in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent following an 8200km journey from Spain.
The train was transported from Bilbao – St Petersburg by ship before being taken eastwards by rail.
The latest trains are identical to four supplied by Talgo in the past decade. The first two nine-car sets arrived in 2011, followed by two 11-car trains in 2017. Eventually all six will be used on Afrosiyob services from Tashkent to Samarkand, Qarshi, Bukhara and Jiva.
The two new 11-car trains were ordered in a €57m deal in 2019 that also includes four extra coaches to extend the existing nine-car trains to 11 cars.
Each train has three classes: standard, business and VIP, with at-seat catering in all classes. There is also a buffet car.
The new trains are designed to operate on 1520mm-gauge lines electrified at 25kV 50Hz. They feature HVAC systems designed to cope with temperatures that range from -25oC in winter to 40oC in summer. The new trains are set to enter service this year.
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