52 standard carriages and 14 driving trailers were built by Spanish manufacturer CAF, and were operated by TransPennine Express.

TransPennine Express announced in 2016 that they were to procure 126 new vehicles from CAF, which included 66 Mark 5A locomotive-hauled coaches.

In October 2016, production started on these coaches,[11] and in March 2017, CAF and TPE released a photo of the first completed bodyshell.

[14][15] In April 2019, the first Nova 3 set was officially handed over from CAF to TPE, after a mandatory period of fault-free running.

[23] Soon afterwards, TransPennine Express announced plans to withdraw their Mark 5A fleet from the December 2023 timetable revision;[1][3][24] however the sets were still leased by TPE until May 2024, and now remain in storage.