The High Speed 1 (HS1) railway service has opened the tender process for its legal panel, worth between £10 million and £15 million.

The HS1 line runs between St Pancras International train station in London and the Channel Tunnel, and connects with the international high-speed routes between London and Paris, and London and Brussels.

The new panel will consist of eight lots, which includes general commercial, employment and pensions, commercial and construction litigation, property and leases, regulatory services, general corporate and company secretarial services, construction law, and corporate finance and tax.

The panel will last for a minimum of five years, with the potential for an additional two years to be added to the end of that period.

The tender process will close in early September, with the panel contracts set to begin at the start of December.

As well as running the HS1 line, the company owns and operates the international train stations at Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford. The railway is used by about 20 million passengers every year on the Eurostar and Southeastern routes.

In 2017, Magic Circle firms Allen & Overy and Linklaters picked up mandates on the £3 billion sale of the HS1 Group to a consortium managed by InfraRed Capital Partners by pensions funds Borealis and the Ontario Teachers, which bought HS1 in 2010 for £2.1 billion.