First month of operation of LE's Talgos on Czech and Slovak tracks
posted on 3rd Jun 2026 14:05
Leo Express has been operating Renfe‘s Talgo non-powered multiple units (NMUs) for a month now, with very frequent cancellations due to technical problems, air conditioning failures, non-functioning entrance doors, etc., as the technical condition of the Talgo is poor and one or two units of three are permanently out of service....
We therefore asked Drážní úřad (DÚ, the Czech Railway Authority) whether it was addressing the fact that LE has been failing to adhere to the timetable for a long time and therefore not fulfilling the promised offer to passengers. When RegioJet did something similar in Poland this year, it received such a fine from the UTK that it decided to withdraw from the Polish domestic operations there.
On 29 May 2026, the DÚ replied: "Three state surveillances were carried out on Leo Express, including an ECM inspection in Bohumín, where the Talgo trains are maintained. The findings from the state inspections are being processed and we expect that they will be evaluated within approximately 14 days."
Finally, the unreliability of Talgo NMUs reached such a point that LE started from 1 June using ex-DB cars, however only two cars (!) in the trains so far. Given this sad situation, we asked Renfe, the majority owner of Leo Express, the following questions: Why didn't you use classic RIC carriages obtained from DB, for example, instead of Talgos? These Talgo VI rakes have:
- passive bodyshell tilting, which has no practical benefit on the Czech and Slovak networks,
- rodales with gauge-changing, which makes no sense, because it is not possible to operate these Talgo VI units on the 1,520 mm gauge anyway,
- generator cars, which are UNECOLOGICAL when running under catenary (in this case of the Czech-Slovak services ALWAYS), noisy, expensive due to the need to constantly burn diesel and unnecessarily complicate maintenance of the trains and mainly operation,
- some other features that could be discussed at length.
On top of that, even when authorising these Talgo VIs in the form of XAU, this process of several months cost a certain amount of time and money. So why didn't Renfe/LE use second-hand and similarly old classic RIC carriages, of which there are plenty, so you would avoid all the above and other problems?
And why didn't Renfe provide Leo Express with at least one spare Talgo set? Or rather two? When these sets have not undergone any proper repair, let alone modernization. (The only thing that is really new on these rakes are the wheels).
We are waiting for a response.
