Herbert Smith Freehills has won a legal challenge on behalf of Virgin Rail Group, after the Government scrapped its decision to award control of the West Coast Main Line franchise to rival operator FirstGroup.
Virgin Rail – a collaboration between Virgin Trains and Stagecoach, a longstanding Herbert Smith client – issued court proceedings in August when it lost the bid to continue operating the service, after the Government awarded rival FirstGroup the £5.5bn contract from December 2012 to 2026.
