TransPennine Express will mothball fleet of new trains and cut services from December

TransPennine Express will mothball a fleet of 13 almost new trains as part of drastic plans to cut services from December and improve its dreadful punctuality record.

The company's boss said the moves were aimed at simplifying its operations and 'deliver improved punctuality and reliability'. The train firm was nationalised in May after months of poor performance.

The train company only began using its Spain-built Nova 3 trains in August 2019 but bosses have now confirmed they will be withdrawn because they don't have enough drivers trained to operate them.

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It means the remaining services across the north of England and the south of Scotland will be operated by older trains, including the Nova 2 and Nova 1.

A spokeswoman for TPE confirmed: "We have a significant backlog of driving training days which leads to operational issues when planning the Nova 3s. By removing the Nova 3 fleet we will significantly reduce the number of those outstanding training days, which will help us to achieve our goal of providing a stable and improved performance."

The spokeswoman insisted customers were 'at the heart of our decision making and we believe that the removal of the Nova 3 fleet from service from December 2023 will be a step forward towards returning TPE to a stable and resilient operator'.

She confirmed no decision had yet been made on what to do with its Nova 3 fleet but she pointed out the lease which secured them expires on May 28.

Chris Jackson, interim managing director at TPE, said: "As part of our plans for the December 2023 timetable we will seek to remove the Nova 3 fleet (Class 68 loco and Mk5a carriages), instead using