Alejandro Goicoechea

Alejandro Goicoechea Omar (March 23, 1895 in Elorrio, Vizcaya - January 30, 1984 in Madrid) was a Spanish engineer and inventor.

Biography

He was born in Elorrio on March 23, 1895. The son of José María Goicoechea, a pharmacist from his native town, and María Homar, he studied high school at the Jesuits of Orduña to later enter (1912) at the School of Engineers of the Guadalajara Army. In 1918, after finishing his studies, he joined the Railway Regiment with the rank of first lieutenant, dedicating himself to the construction of the railway branch from Cuatro Vientos to Leganés, while he was a professor in the Traction class. During these years, he served in Morocco, in the Larache sector, where he spent several months. In 1921 he graduated with the rank of captain, being hired shortly after by the La Robla Railway Company, in which he held the position of chief of materials and traction until the start of the Civil War.

Civil War

In 1936 the authorities of the recently created Basque Government entrusted him with the direction of the defense of Bilbao. This system of trenches, shelters, concrete machine gun nests and other fortifications was designed by Commander Alberto Montaud y Noguerol. Captains Alejandro Goicoechea and Pablo Murga, who was shot, took him from the paper to the field. When these last two were absent, Vicente Aguirre, a civil engineer from the Vizcaya Provincial Council, took over. The Provisional Government of the Basque Country gave Goicoechea that same day the rank of captain that he had reached in the Spanish Army and that the Biscayan had abandoned in Madrid to work on the La Robla railway in Valmaseda.

In 1937 he deserted and helped the rebels. The betrayal took place at night in Bentabarri, in the port of Arlabán. Goicoechea took with him the plans of the Iron Belt, providing the details, characteristics and weak points of the aforementioned defensive line, which helped to break it on June 12 of the same year, facilitating the entry, days later, of Franco's troops into the Biscayan capital.

Later career

In 1938 he began the design and preparations for the train that would be known by the name of Talgo (acronym for Goicoechea-Oriol Articulated Light Train) and which began its journey in 1941. It was associated with the Biscayan businessman José Luis Oriol to set up a company, Patentes Talgo, which was established in 1942. Goicoechea directed the design and construction of Talgo 0, Talgo I and Talgo II. The first two were just prototypes; instead, the Talgo II circulated commercially for many years and the saga of the Talgos as a company and as a train continues today.

He was an innovative engineer in his time. Although the Talgo prospered and is his best-known project, other revolutionary ideas of his did not prosper for various reasons: for example, the Gran Canaria Vertebrate Train or his ideas to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. He worked for many years on the La Robla railway and his ideas tried to lighten the weight of the trains in order to reduce consumption and increase speed. Currently, the transport of goods by the container system or the light high-speed trains share the same idea of lightening.

Alejandro Goicoechea died in Madrid on January 30, 1984 at the age of 88.