Ashurst and Addleshaw Goddard have picked up mandates on a railway contract dispute plaguing the Department for Transport (DfT), after a consortium made up of Virgin Trains, Stagecoach and French operator SNCF launched fresh legal action last week (May 24).

The consortium, West Coast Trains Partnership, is vying to overturn a decision that disqualified it from bidding to operate the west coast railway franchise.