"Solar" Leo Talgo
posted on 24th Feb 2026 11:21
The story of the Talgo trains for Leo Express is gaining another dimension. After the design for these “new” LE trains was presented on 10 February, inscriptions “Sun-powered innovation” appeared on the generator car, indicating that the operator wants to install solar panels on the latter... Perhaps the LE management wants to visually overstate the fact that even when running under the catenary (in the planned Czech-Slovak operation always) the Talgo will have diesel generators running in order to be able to supply the rake with electricity.
It is worth remembering that photovoltaics on the roof of trains have already been tried by some operatoras (e. g. SNCF) and have backed away from it due to impracticality, mainly because the solar panels on the roof are constantly getting dirty, so they require frequent cleaning. Moreover, the energy intake from the panels of limited size is not impressive, which will be even more true with one short generator car in the Talgo set.
Moreover, it has here one condition, because such an application, which of course also includes the installation of other devices into the train's electrical equipment, would have to be approved; at the same time, the approval of these Talgo rakes for operation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has not yet been resolved. How LE intends to achieve all this by the end of April, when it is supposed to launch the Talgos, is a question. And it is somewhat reminiscent of earlier ideas about the rapid homologation of CRRC-built Sirius EMUs...
