FirstGroup's joint venture awarded West Coast Rail Partnership

(Reuters) - FirstGroup said on Wednesday Britain's transport authority awarded the West Coast Rail Partnership, which operates trains from London to Glasgow, to the transport group's joint venture First Trenitalia West Coast Rail.The contract award comes months after rail operator Stagecoach said it was suing the Department for Transport for disqualifying it from bidding for the rail franchise along with partners SNCF and Virgin.First Trenitalia will pay 1.6 billion pounds real net present..