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Like the *one* inherent advantage that loco/carriage sets have over multiple units is that you can form up trains per demand, adding and removing carriages as needed. Which worked ... half a century ago, when there still existed sidings up and down the country where you could store carriages outside of the depot. They've all been rationalised since then, of course.
Given that the Nova 3 sets are supposed to serve routes that are already overcrowded, though, this kind of flexibility isn't needed, because the demand is already there. They said it was cheaper to use newbuild carriage stock and drag them around using a Class 68 loco ... why on earth they didn't just refurbish and double-up the Class 185s that already serve these routes, is a mystery.
