Almost two years ago, the group was awarded two 15-year contracts for commuter
services in Germany’s most populous state – North Rhine Westphalia – in what
was
only the second time that a UK company had secured rail
contracts in the country.

National Express will begin running those services, which are worth €1.6bn and
include links to Bonn and Cologne, in December.

The British company also competed for the so-called “Ringbahn” around the
centre of Berlin and was shortlisted
for those services in October 2013.

However, the group eventually lost out to Deutsche Bahn, which was given an
extension to its existing contract.

“National Express is delighted to have won another rail contract in Germany,
confirming this market as an exciting growth opportunity for the group,”
said Dean Finch, the company’s chief executive.

The work “builds on our earlier success in North Rhine Westphalia”, he said,
adding: “We look forward to providing passengers in the Nuremberg region
with a high quality service for many years to come.”

In the UK, National Express runs
the Essex Thameside, or c2c, rail services between London and south
Essex.

The group, which had run the franchise for 14 years, beat rivals FirstGroup,
MTR of Hong Kong and Abellio to a new 15-year contract last June. More
recently, however, the company lost out on the Crossrail and Scotrail
services.

News of the Nuremberg win pushed National Express shares up 3.2pc to 264.6p.