Margaret (SP fan) Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But one Achilles heel of the Talgos is that they
> are completely articulated. When one of these
> Talgo sets gets into a grade-crossing collision
> in the push mode, the entire trainset has to go
> out of service, which is not what happens with
> conventional passenger trains.
>
...
>
> TIA for any info.

I have read somewhere that the Cascades Talgos have had very high "availability" rates -- perhaps as high as 97 - 99%. (Probably due, at least in part, due to the Talgo manufacturer's regular maintenance, and having a Talgo technician ride every trip, to take care of minor issues "on the road", as it were.) They just don't seem to have serious failures very often.

And, during the overnight shop work, a truly problematic car can be swapped out or just removed -- the articulation is not so permanent as to put a whole consist out of service for one troublesome car.