That’s putting it mildly, for TPE.
What amazes me is that no one at TPE foresaw the nightmare that having 3 totally different types of units on TPE North would be in terms of training. Even before Covid they were in trouble with training, the poor service towards the end of 2019 was caused by the need to train staff. Even if you take the reliability and late delivery of the Mk5s out of the equation there must be an ongoing requirement which is multiplied everytime a new type of stock is introduced, and this continues long after the stock is introduced, as every new staff member has to undergo 3 lots of training, and knowledge has to be retained on each type of unit.
To someone outside the industry it would also seem that each type of unit is totally different as well, LHCS, Bi-Modes and traditional DMU, which must multiply the training needs.
What should of happened is TPE should have ordered just one type of unit, 802s for all services, including the WCML services. When enough units were delivered they sould have been given back the Windermere and Barrow services, solving another problem as well, long distance diesel under wires operation. Operationally this would be far more flexible, and make it easier to deliver the promised service.