CIRCLING the test track in Velim, Czech Republic, in April 2018 aboard Mk.5A set TP01, it was easy to see why there was optimism ahead for introducing the Nova 3 fleet.
Ordered less than two years previously, the Mk.5A fleet, built by CAF, was to help boost capacity on a franchise crying out for extra space across its network.
The first set, along with two Class 68s (Nos. 68019/021), had been sent to Velim for testing ahead of delivery to the UK. TPE invited guests to travel aboard the first train during testing. These were the first locomotive hauled coaches ordered for Britain’s railways, other than the Caledonian Sleeper Mk.5s, since the Mk.4s were introduced between 1989 and 1992, and were being introduced onto routes that had been a unit-only railway since January 1991, when Class 158 diesel multiple units replaced Class 47-hauled trains.
The franchise had been reliant on a fleet of 51 three-car Class 185 DMUs supplemented by 10 four-car Class 350 electric multiple units. A fleet of Class 170 DMUs had been moved south to Chiltern Railways with no immediate replacement lined up. At the same time passenger numbers were soaring across northern England and politically the lack of investment in the region was becoming a major topic for local and national politicians.
When FirstGroup was announced as the new franchise holder in 2015, new trains were central to the plan. It was envisaged that, eventually, 22 of the 51 Class 185s would be replaced and that longer trains would be introduced. The plan was to increase capacity by 80% during peak periods. The headline order was a fleet of bi-mode Hitachi
