Government confirmed that ‘Route E’ linking Bedford with Cambridge via a new station between Sandy and St Neots and another at Cambourne has been chosen out of five options.

According to the East West Rail Company, which is responsible for taking the project forward, this option offers the highest value for money, proved the most popular at public consultation and boasts the best environmental credentials.

The preferred route announcement represents a “landmark moment in the scheme’s history”, according to Buckinghamshire County Council’s deputy leader Mark Shaw, who chairs a consortium of councils and businesses campaigning for the reinstatement of the former Varsity Line.

“The central section between Bedford and Cambridge has always been the most challenging part of planning East West Rail, given that – unlike the section west of Bedford – it requires a completely new route,” he said.

Sub national transport body England’s Economic Heartland strategic transport forum chair Dave Hodgson, the mayor of Bedford Borough Council, also welcomed the preferred route.

“It provides certainty to our local authorities, who can now examine what the chosen route means for their area, and plan ahead with confidence,” he said.

He added that the project will serve as the region’s “sustainable spine” and said work to improve local connectivity to and from stations will be taken forward to ensure a wide number of people and businesses can benefit from the opportunities it unlocks.

Another to greet the announcement was South Cambridgeshire District Council’s deputy leader Aidan Van de Weyer, who particularly applauded the decision to stop at Cambourne.

He added: “The decision on whether this will be an electrified line has not yet been made but we are told that it will be a net zero carbon railway which is exactly what we would want as we move towards being a zero carbon district by 2050.”

Next steps will see the East West Rail Company develop more detailed route alignment proposals in consultation with local communities. Government will then make a final decision on whether to take the scheme forward, before an application is submitted for a Development Consent Order.

Meanwhile, Network Rail could begin construction on phase two of East West Rail’s western section connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes, Aylesbury and Bedford later this year, after the Transport Secretary approved a Transport & Works Act Order application for the scheme this week.

The work will include reinstating a disused section of railway between Bletchley and Claydon Junction, north of Aylesbury Vale Parkway.

Phase one of the western section saw completion of railway between Oxford and Bicester in 2016.

Transport Minister Rail Paul Maynard said: “East West Rail could help us revolutionise transport in the Oxford-Cambridge arc, increasing people’s access to job opportunities while making travel quicker, cheaper and easier.”

Government also announced the opening of a £500M Beeching reversal fund last week, which could see restoration of former railway lines that were lost to the cuts of the 1960s.

(Photograph: Mattbuck and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)