Operation and maintenance of the train service, not the infrastructure for which a TOC doesn't have any expertise. It's highly likely the HS train maintenance will be provided by the rolling stock manufacturer / leasing organisation which makes sense to incentivise them to produce a good reliable design. The infrastructure freehold will likely remain state-owned via an arms-length agency and/or might be leased for a long fixed period as per HS1, and fixed systems maintenance and signalling control will likely be contracted out to a competent organisation. NR would be the most eligible for this as with HS1, especially the signalling and control aspects due to the multiple interfaces in the north with the conventional network.
OK. I had not read that. I still stand by my statement that Trenitalia and First Rail Holdings have close to zero relevant expertise in infrastructure maintenance and network signalling and operations control, so they will have to buy it in or establish it from scratch, even if on paper they may be responsible for it. Trenitalia, a division of still-partially state-owned FS, is the largest of a number of train operators in Italy today. Infrastructure is managed by Italy's NR equivalent RFI (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana), also part of FS, but RFI are not claimed to be part of the HS2 bidding consortium. First currently have the well-known handful of UK rail operations, and a singular example overseas that DOES appear to have some infrastructure responsibilities. That is the A-train of Denton County, Texas, USA, a 21km, largely single track, six station 'commuter rail' operation using Stadler GTW diesel-electric hybrid units on the fringes of the Dallas - Fort Worth area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-train_(Denton_County). Although largely segregated, it does have some industrial siding connections which I assume are serviced on a time segregated basis (i.e. at night) by a local freight operator.
