Transpennine Express has announced that the first of its new Nova 3 trains will enter passenger service later than planned.

CAF, who are making the Nova 3 trains, recently made the train operator aware of a technical issue with a key onboard system.

We are confident that customers will start to see new trains in service by spring next year and the issue does not affect the other two new Nova fleets, Nova 2 and 1.

All three fleets of new trains plus an extra 13 million seats are still on track to be delivered by 2020.

The Nova 3 trains will operate on the route between Liverpool, Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Scarborough and Middlesbrough.

What did the officials say?

Leo Goodwin, TPE Managing Director, said:

“While we are keen to start the roll out of the Nova 3s as soon as possible, it is important that we allow CAF to address the issue identified during the train testing process. It was hoped that our customers would start to experience these new trains before the end of the year, but we will all now have to wait until the New Year.

“This issue does not affect the other Nova fleets, we will start to see new trains in service by spring next year, and we are still on track to complete the roll out of all three fleets of trains by 2020.  This is a hugely exciting and ambitious project that will provide our customers with extra seats, extra space and a whole new experience when travelling with us.

“We will continue to work with CAF to ensure that we can get the trains onto our network as soon as possible.  It may be a short delay to the programme, but it will definitely be worth the wait.”

Richard Garner, UK Director for CAF, said:

“We are working closely with TPE to resolve the technical issue. Our trains undergo thorough, detailed testing in order to ensure that when they enter service, they provide the customer with a reliable, comfortable and high-quality service.

“When the Nova 3 trains enter service in the new year, we believe the customer will see a huge step change in their travelling experience.”

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