I was obsessing over the 3+2 layout and have dug for more info. Seat pitch is better than I imagined but ...
There was a tweet which showed the interior of the new sets and they look pretty terrible in my opinion. 3+2 for standard class with some in train entertainment screens (something which the UK binned a long time ago)
This image?
from
La Voz de Asturias but seems a widely used Talgo publicity photo. If so, that is not a typical coach. Most do not have the luggage stack and have 11 rows of seats.
I believe the bodies are wider than normal so the seat width is similar to other trains with 2+2 seating.
True. Body width is 3.2m compared with 2.94 for other Talgo sets for RENFE.
Does AVLO has a reduced seat pitch compared to the very generous one on AVE services?
It turns out not, it is actually greater than most current sets. This gets more interesting.
RENFE's web site states their standard seat pitch is 800mm and seat width 460mm.
An article (dating back to InnoTrans Berlin in 2012) has a Talgo graphic confirming that, giving the S-103 (their Siemens Velaro) standard seat pitch as 805mm and width 450mm.
Existing Talgo sets (S-102/112, 130) are either 10 rows of 800mm or 9 rows of ~890mm (Confort) in a 13.1m coach.
Avril sets, in the Talgo graphic, have
900mm seat pitch and 450mm width 2+3 in the wider body. Gangway is 500mm, the same as for previous 2+2 sets. So crawling past two people to get to your seat is compensated by having RENFE Confort legroom.
How they achieve the 521 to 581 seat capacity is by having
11 rows of 900mm instead of 10 rows of 800mm at present. Two metres more of a 13m coach dedicated to seats means no luggage stacks so loads of bags around legs, fewer smaller toilets and so on.
The 581 seat Avlo version, assuming it still has a cafe/bar coach, is nearly 11 x 54-seat coaches with only 1/4 coach in the whole train free for frills such as in the picture above. All other coaches are probably the full 54 seats.
The 521 seat AVE version is 3 x 40-seat Confort (2+2 seating) coaches and 8 x 54-seat standard.
I now think it needs a 2+ hour journey on the things to decide whether this is a genuis design or a miserable experience.
Incidentally, the 15 gauge-changing TALGO Avril should be sufficient for two-hourly services from Madrid to Asturias and to Galicia ... Of course, nothing like this is to be expected; rather a hodgepodge of erratic services
Indeed. See this newspaper article about the Vigo service:
Usará los convoyes de Talgo para el producto prémium además del “low cost” Avlo | La estrategia repetirá la de Asturias
www.farodevigo.es
Currently the 4 direct Alvia services between Vigo and Madrid have 1100 seats available each way ...
... the 15 variable gauge sets, of which Galicia will have 7, between AVE and Avlo will allow 3 daily Vigo services in each direction ...
i.e. a worse timetable but more seats. We should be glad it will not be a like-for-like seat count reduction to 2 trains per day.