Siemens is not entitled to compensation following its defeat in the battle over a high-speed train project in the UK.

The High Court in London dismissed a claim brought by Siemens' train division against the operating company HS2, which had awarded the two billion pound contract to build 54 trains for the high-speed line from London to Birmingham to Siemens' competitors Bombardier (now Alstom) and Hitachi. The contract also includes a twelve-year maintenance agreement. Judge Finola O'Farrell ruled in written proceedings on Monday that Siemens had not been able to prove that the contract had been awarded unlawfully.

Siemens had expressed doubts that Bombardier and Hitachi could meet the technical requirements for the project. They had not adhered to the tender conditions and were therefore only able to submit the most favorable bid. A spokesperson for Siemens Mobility expressed disappointment at the decision. An HS2 spokesperson emphasized that there had been no successful challenges to the award of contracts worth more than 20 billion pounds for the project. Alstom initially declined to comment and Hitachi could not be reached for comment.

The 54 trains are to travel at speeds of up to 225 miles (360 kilometers) per hour from London to Birmingham, the country's second largest city. Hitachi and Alstom want to build them in three factories in the UK. The high-speed line should actually be completed by 2026 and run further north in England to Leeds and Manchester. However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak canceled the second part of the line beyond Birmingham in October.

(Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Hans Seidenstücker. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets).)