GWR drafts in fleet to tackle rail chaos By Adam Postans, Wednesday May 12, 2021 GWR is taking urgent measures and other operators have stepped in to help passengers caught up in rail chaos after cracks were found in high-speed trains. The company’s managing director Mark Hopwood has written a reply to West of England metro mayor Dan Norris who demanded to know what it was doing to get people onto services amid a raft of cancellations across the region. Hopwood said the withdrawal of Hitachi’s entire 800 Series trains, including the vast majority of GWR’s Intercity Express fleet, from Saturday morning had a “very significant impact” on long-distance routes, with passengers urged not to travel.