Norton Rose Fulbright has won a two-year mandate to provide legal advice to the Department for Transport (DfT) on its role as Network Rail's sole shareholder.

The international firm has won the contract advising the Network Rail Shareholder Team (NRST), worth £250,000, on corporate financial matters, including drafting funding agreements, negotiating contractual agreements and providing risk assessments on projects.

The NRST has oversight of corporate finance and governance arrangements in relation to Network Rail. Network Rail's sole shareholder is the Department for Transport (DfT).

The contract will run until December 2021.

The government established its first rail legal services panel in 2017, when eight firms were appointed including Linklaters, Eversheds Sutherland and Ashurst.

Last year saw a number of law firms appointed to provide legal advice on the UK's railways. In July, NR appointed Dentons to advise on the acquisition of British Steel's railway arm, following the company's collapse earlier in the year.

In May, the DfT appointed Ashurst and Addleshaw Goddard to advise on a railway contract dispute between the department and a consortium made up of Virgin Trains, Stagecoach and French operator SNCF, who had been disqualified from bidding for the west coast railway franchise.

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