Four different coaches
THE CAF MK.5a push-pull stock built for TransPennine Express numbers four different vehicles, (same as the CS Mk.5 sleeper stock), requiring four different coach body toolings (two of which are quite different from the others), to make up the five-coach sets. This is quite an investment in a train that has seen only one livery; not to mention its short four-year operating window and current low utilisation.
Consequently, the Nova 3 model, along with the CS Mk.5 stock, counter the established view that models have to be long-lived and decorated in numerous liveries to be viable. It certainly gives hope that complete trains such as Electrostars, Bulleid 4EPBs, Wessex units and the Mk.3 power door
