When using the new pipeline it is not possible to use monophone for alignment because the cart step overwrites the cpr object:
for crp in self.crp.values():
crp.acoustic_model_config.state_tying.type = "cart"
crp.acoustic_model_config.state_tying.file = cart_lda.last_cart_tree
commenting out the following steps (e.g. not doing them, but only monophone step) fixes the issue.
After talking to @JackTemaki this issue serves as a reminder right now that this happens.