The British Rail Mark 5A is a type of railway vehicle in use in the UK. 52 standard

carriages A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...

and 14 driving trailers were built by Spanish manufacturer CAF, and were operated by

TransPennine Express TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...

. They first entered service on 24 August 2019, with the last set being withdrawn with the timetable change occurring on 10 December 2023.

Description

TransPennine Express announced in 2016 that they were to procure 126 new vehicles from CAF, which included 66 Mark 5A locomotive-hauled coaches. They would be formed into thirteen 5-carriage sets, hauled by locomotives. This equates to 65 coaches for total service, with the 66th coach being a spare Driving Trailer. Each set is composed of 1 first class carriage with guard's area and catering provision, 1 standard class carriage with PRM toilet, 2 standard class carriages and a standard class Driving Trailer (DT). In October 2016, production started on these coaches, and in March 2017, CAF and TPE released a photo of the first completed bodyshell. The first completed rake was sent for testing at Velim test centre in March 2018, the second set being delivered straight to the UK in May 2018 via Portbury ahead of their planned entry into service in the autumn of that year. In April 2019, the first ''Nova 3'' set was officially handed over from CAF to TPE, after a mandatory period of fault-free running. TransPennine Express branded their new trains under the general name ''Nova'', with the Class 68 + Mark 5A combination given the name ''Nova 3''.

Operation

The sets were initially to be used on services between

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station complex located on Lime Street, Liverpool, Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. Although publicly a single, unified station, it is operationally divided into two official railway stations: Liv ...

and

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

as well as between

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2024, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers (the busiest outside of London) ...

and Saltburn. The first set entered service between Liverpool and Scarborough on 24 August 2019. The ''Nova 3'' was officially launched on 22 November 2019 at Liverpool Lime Street station alongside other members of the new Nova fleet. By 2022, four sets were in use daily, making them the most underutilised fleets of passenger stock in the country at five years old. In 2023, faults were discovered in some Mark 5A coaches, including cracks on a number of coaches. Soon afterwards, TransPennine Express announced plans to withdraw their Mark 5A fleet from the December 2023 timetable revision; however the sets were still leased by TPE until May 2024, and now remain in storage.

Future

Various discussions regarding the future use of the trains have occurred – including use by

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways (legal name The Chiltern Railway Company Limited) is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...

on the

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham (Birmingham Moor Street railway station, Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill railway station, Snow Hill) on a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington ...

References

{{British Rail Coaches, state=collapsed Mark 5 CAF rolling stock Train-related introductions in 2019