The consortium, which originally comprised the Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi and the British infrastructure specialist John Laing, was created in June 2008 to collectively bid for the Department for Transport's Intercity Express Programme (IEP), which sought to procure a new fleet of high speed trains, initially to replace the aging InterCity 125.

The consortium's bid was centered around the Class 800 and 801 high speed trains, which provided more seats, reduced journey times, and superior environmental performance than the Intercity 125 sets.

Infrastructure built to fulfil the contract included a new manufacturing site at Hitachi Newton Aycliffe and multiple new depots to maintain the fleet.

[1][2][3] During June 2008, three companies, these being the British infrastructure specialist John Laing Group, the Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi and the British investment firm Barclays Private Equity, created the Agility Trains consortium for the purpose of jointly bidding for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the IEP.

[29] In September 2020, John Laing Group announced that it was selling its remaining stake in Agility Trains to AIP Management in exchange for £421 million in cash.