Hogan Lovells, DLA Piper, Shoosmiths and Ashurst have taken the top advisory roles on the funding of the  £2.7bn East Coast phase of the UK's Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

DLA Piper acted for Agility Trains, the consortium comprising Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing Investments that won the IEP contract. DLA's team was led by infrastructure partner Colin Wilson.

Hogan Lovells advised the the Department for Transport (DfT) with a team led by London infrastructure partner Andrew Briggs and finance partners Simon Gwynne and Andrew Gallagher.

In total, the IEP is worth £5.7bn and will see Hitachi build a new fleet of around 122 trains over a period of 30 years as well as overseeing the upgrade of essential maintenance depots. The East Coast phase accounts for 60% of the fleet, which will run from London to Edinburgh.

The first part of the IEP – which involved delivery of around 40% of the total fleet for the Great Western line – was completed in July 2012.

Shoosmiths advised Hitachi, led by the firm's head of structured asset finance Chris McClure. Last month Hitachi announced that it will move its global rail business from Japan to the UK as part of its commitment to the project.

Ashurst energy, transport and infrastructure partner Nikhil Markanday represented the banks on the deal, which included the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the European Investment Bank, BTMU, Lloyds and Credit Agricole.

The first stage of the programme saw roles handed to DLA Piper, Ashurst, Shoosmiths and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. DLA acted for Agility Trains while Freshfields advised the DfT.