The initiative of the train drivers to reduce the speed of the S106 trains operating on the Madrid-Valencia corridor has led Renfe to withdraw several of these compositions from circulation, with the aim of minimizing the negative impact that these speed reductions were causing on users' travel times.
According to internal sources of the operator, certain S106 trains have been withdrawn, specifically those with fixed wheelsets, which are the ones registering incidents in their bogies. In parallel, other S106 with movable wheelsets, such as those providing service to Galicia, continue to operate normally and no failures of this type have been detected in them.
Renfe emphasizes the discontent over the unilateral decision of the train drivers to limit speed, as it goes against the criteria of both the company's specialists and the Spanish Railway Safety Agency (AESF), which had already supported the actions implemented by the company.
"This causes problems in punctuality and service quality and can generate disruptions in circulation, which also affects our customers," they argue.
The operator identified the first cracks last year in eight bogie frames of some fixed wheelset S106 trains that were operating on the Madrid-Barcelona line and, from that moment, proceeded to replace another 19 additional bogies upon detecting signs that they could present cracks in the future.
As technical checks indicate that the incident could be linked to the train model itself and given that Renfe has run out of spare parts to continue replacing the affected bogies, the train drivers opted to apply speed reductions on these units.
In this context, Renfe has decided to take some of those trains out of service to prevent further speed limitations from being applied, although the company insists that the withdrawal of compositions "responds exclusively to operational and service quality criteria," since the fixed wheelset S106 "continue to be safe trains for circulation."