Burges Salmon, Herbert Smith and Eversheds have secured leading roles on the bidding war that today resulted in Virgin Rail Group losing control of the West Coast mainline franchise to rival rail operator FirstGroup.

Herbert Smith advised Virgin on its unsuccessful attempt, with energy and infrastructure partner Adrian Clough at the helm.

Virgin Rail – a collaboration between Virgin Trains and Stagecoach, a longstanding Herbert Smith client – has been operating the West Coast service since 1997 and and put the cost of its bid for the contract at £14m.

Bristol-based Burges Salmon has advised regular client FirstGroup which was awarded the coveted rail mandate by the Department for Transport (DfT) after outbidding Virgin, as well as other unsuccessful bidders such as Dutch transport company Abellio.

Commercial partner Simon Coppen is leading the team at Burges Salmon, which has previously advised FirstGroup on a series of deals, including two rail franchising deals together worth £2bn six years ago that saw tie-ups between First Great Western and Wessex Trains, and between Thameslink and Great Northern, to form First Capital Connect.

The DfT turned to Eversheds for advice on the tender process, with the firm fielding a team including rail partner Anne Harris. Ashurst advised Abellio, with rail partner Naomi Horton in the lead.

 Virgin is now expected to push for a judicial review of the decision, with founder Richard Branson expressing his disappointment at the Government's move and stating that it was now "extremely unlikely that [the company] would bid again for a franchise".

FirstGroup's deal is worth £5.5bn over the lifetime of the contract which will run from December this year until March 2026. The company has set out plans for the new franchise that include 11 new six-car electric trains running from Birmingham to Scotland, and direct services from London to Blackpool, Telford, Shrewsbury and Bolton.