Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells have taken lead roles on the court dispute over Eurostar's order for German-built Siemens trains to run through the Channel Tunnel.

Eurostar handed Siemens a reported €600m (£522m) contract last month for a new fleet of trains following a succesful pitch against France's Alstom Transport.

Alstom applied for an interim injunction to prevent the deal, but the demand was rejected in the High Court last Friday (29 October), with Mr Justice Vos saying that "Siemens took the bidding process far more seriously than Alstom".

Freshfields advised Siemens, fielding a team in London led by dispute resolution partners Jane Jenkins and Sally Roe, alongside lawyers in Berlin led by antitrust partner Hans-Joachim Priess.

The Hogan Lovells team acting for Alstom included infrastructure and project finance partner Rupert Sydenham and Brussels competition partner Ciara Kennedy-Loest.

Jenkins said: "Eurostar announced the intention to award the contract on 5 October, following which it provided a debriefing to Alstom during the normal standstill period.

"Alstom made allegations as to defects in the process adopted by Eurostar in running the procurement and applied to the High Court for an injunction. Siemens applied to be joined as an additional defendant given it was clearly directly affected by the claims."

Burges Salmon also won a role on the deal, advising Eurostar with a team led by disputes partners Chris Jackson and Ann Metherall and commercial partner John Houlden.

Blackstone Chambers' John Howell QC acted as counsel at court for Siemens.