until the current operation is perfect.
Not perfect, but resilient enough to be able to handle the introduction of new stock. The low risk solution, as I pointed out originally, would be more 800 bi modes, as there would be minimal impact on crew training, but no doubt the bean counters at the DfT will go for the cheapest solution, and TPE may end up with another microfleet, with all the attendent problems, and this is while the previous examples of that thinking, 68s + Mk5s, are still looking for a home.
I have suffered the TPE services post 2018, and that level of unreliability, which reached a peak at the end of 2022, should never be allowed to return. The current operation is better, timetables are sparse, but in general timetabled trains do run. Given the 4+ years of misery regular users suffered I would suggest 'baby steps' are the order of the day for some time.
Running 6tph on TPE north, even when the Dewsbury - Huddersfield improvements are finished seems like overkill, better to have 4tph with longer trains, as a turn up and go service between Leeds and Manchester worst wait is 15 mins, and that allows each of the eastern legs to be served hourly, which is probably about right, the western would probably be 2 tph Liverpool, 1 tph Airport and one terminating in Piccadilly