Reported on WNXX Forum today by a credible source that a deal has been been put together for GWR to receive all 27 175s and half a dozen 2 or 3-car units from elsewhere.
We know GWR had to provide a short and medium term fleet strategy to DfT by end of March (It is commitment 4-3 with detail in 3.1, on page 18 of DfT published business plan 2023-24).
The proposal had to be in by 15th September 2023 (commitment 4-1 on page 16) so DfT has had 7 months to think about it
Basic logic says if the strategy followed 6.5 months after proposal, then GWR have known for 2 weeks what the fleet strategy is (even if it has not been made public). By definition cannot have an agreed strategy that is speculative, which means it cannot be conditional on unknown factors eg possibility of another operator releasing a fleet sometime in next year or three.
Therefore the Business Commitments mean whatever is agreed, which has to be any fleet with confirmed availability (and it could be the 175s) are now known (ie what, where and when) to GWR, even if that info isn't public.
So good chance the official info is known, even if what source says is unable to be evidenced.