30 June, 2017
The west coast line is now run by Stagecoach and Virgin who have brought experienced high-speed French company SNCF on board in a bid to retain the contract.
Separately, Stagecoach has been invited to tender for the next South Eastern franchise, the Department for Transport announced.
The Stagecoach and FirstGroup consortia will be up against a third bidder for the West Coast Franchise.
The winning consortium will be expected to work with HS2 Ltd to launch the first services on the £55.7 billion high-speed railway.
United Kingdom transport secretary Chris Grayling said: "The West Coast Partnership will support growth and better services on the West Coast Main Line while helping to ensure that HS2 becomes the backbone of Britain's railways".
First Trenitalia West Coast Ltd, which is a joint venture between First Rail Holdings Limited and Trenitalia SpA, were the first name on the list. Earlier this year it took on the C2C rail franchise.
Stagecoach, headquartered in Perth, has joined forces with long-time partner Virgin and French rail operator SNCF in another. MTR West Coast Partnership, a joint venture between MTR Corporation (UK) - a division of the Hong Kong-listed MTR - with sub-contractors Deloitte MSC, Panasonic Systems Europe, Snowfall AB, Trainline.com and WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff is also in the running.
They will also help design HS2 services from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds, due to open in 2033, and may operate those services too.
HS2 will link London and Birmingham and the opportunity to run it from 2026 is included within a partnership franchise that starts in 2019.
Also included on the shortlist is MTR West Coast Partnership Ltd, a venture between Hong Kong firm MTR's United Kingdom wing and Guangshen Railway Company who will also work with a number of sub-contractors including Deloitte MCS Ltd, Panasonic Systems Europe, Snowfall AB, Trainline.com Ltd and WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff.
The victor of the South Eastern franchise will need to work as one team with Network Rail to ensure passengers experience better journeys and provide longer trains with more space.
Also bidding is London and South East Passenger Rail Services Limited, a wholly subsidiary of United Kingdom transport company Govia, which is the current operator of the franchise.
Stagecoach South Eastern Trains which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group.
It is a scandal that the cheaper, more efficient public sector option has been excluded from the bidding process for these two major rail franchises.
