Locomotive-hauled trains returned to the Pennines on August 24, when TransPennine Express finally put the first of its Class 68-hauled CAF Mk 5As into passenger traffic.
TPE has ordered 44 new trains, in a £500 million scheme designed to significantly boost capacity on its routes across the North.
Almost a year after they were due to enter traffic, the first train was the 0555 Manchester Victoria-Liverpool Lime Street, powered by TPE 68027 Splendid.
TPE used TP09, one of four rakes of Mk 5As so far accepted for traffic. The set contained Open First (FO) 11509, Open Standard (TSO) 12725-727 and Driving Trailer Standard (DTS) 12809.
The rest of its duty was planned to be the 0656, 1356 Liverpool-Scarborough, 1041, 1744 return and 2056 Liverpool-Stalybridge. However, on the first day this was curtailed after the second departure from Scarborough due to concerns with fuel levels on the ‘68’.
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For the FULL story, read RAIL 887, published on September 11, and available digitally on Android, iPad and Kindle from September 7.
AndrewJG8918 - 05/09/2019 02:15
TransPennine Express should be proud of what they are achieving services with new rolling stocks being introduced including the Nova 3 Class 68+Mk5A which has begun passenger service and hopefully the Nova 2 Class 397 Civity and Nova 1 Class 802 IET to also be introduced in service. And yes Class 350/4s to be cascaded to West Midlands Trains and Class 185s to operate on other services and Northern could inherit some of the Class 185s on some services in the Northeast that could improve better rail services.