The capacity offered by the five-coach, loco-powered Mk.5 sets will be missed on the busy trans-Pennine route between York, Leeds and Manchester. On September 14, No. 68032 Destroyer departs Leeds with the 1U60/14.48 Scarborough-Manchester Piccadilly.
PAUL BICKERDYKE
A CONSEQUENCE of the withdrawal of the loco-powered ‘Nova 3’Mk.5 rolling stock is a reduction of 16 trains a day on TransPennine Express routes in the December 2023 timetable.
TPE is now under the control of the Department forTransport’s Operator of Last Resort (OLR), which took over from FirstGroup after its National Rail Contract expired on May 28 without a renewal.
Train services have suffered from poor reliability, and the Operator of Last Resort team diagnosed that using four different types of rolling stock – including three recent train types (Class 802 bimode‘Nova 1’, Class 397 EMU ‘Nova 2’, and the Mk.5‘Nova 3’sets) – brought a need for simplification. This is aimed at reducing the backlog in driver training and rolling stock maintenance needs.