A raft of UK law firms including DLA Piper, Ashurst, Shoosmiths and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer have advised on a £4.5bn UK rail deal which will see a fleet of new intercity trains built and as many as 900 new jobs created.

DLA Piper took the lead role for Agility Trains – a consortium comprising Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing Investments – on the contract for the Intercity Express Programme, which was approved this week by the Department for Transport (DfT).