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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Kristian Johnson

Brand new multi-million pound trains taken off tracks due to software fault

The introduction of a fleet of new 100mph trains across the north of England has been halted due an issue with the software onboard.

TransPennine Express announced ambitious plans to unveil 13 new Nova 3 trains on its lines earlier this year and the first two have been operating between Liverpool and Scarborough via Leeds over the past two months.

The initial rollout was delayed due to a technical fault discovered during testing - and the first two futuristic trains currently in service have swiftly been taken off the tracks after engineers discovered a software fault.

The operator has not confirmed the exact issue, but admitted that the trains are currently being held in a depot in an attempt to fix the fault.

It is not yet known how long the Nova 3 trains will be out of action for, but a spokesperson told LeedsLive that they should be back on the tracks 'shortly'.

In the meantime, commuters will be shuttled to and from Leeds on Class 185 trains.

A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: "During maintenance and fault-finding on one of our new Nova 3 train sets, we discovered a software issue and as a precaution we have decided to hold the trains on depot until the issue is fixed.

"We are now working with our manufacturer CAF on the development, testing and validation of the necessary software update and expect to bring our Nova 3 trains back into service shortly."

The new fleet of Nova 3 trains include free wifi, plug and USB charging points and the entertainment system Exstream, which shows TV shows, news and films. Each of the new carriages also have 291 seats, more than 181 onboard Class 185 trains.

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