Trains linking Oxford and Bicester with Milton Keynes and Bedford could be running within five years, after a Government report backed plans for an east-west rail service.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister yesterday published its East West Links Study, looking into the future transport needs of north-east Oxfordshire, north Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes.

Consultants Atkins, who drew up the report, say there is a "good business case" for a train service and that better road and rail links are vital to cope with the major housing developments planned for Milton Keynes and nearby towns, including Bicester and Aylesbury.

The report was welcomed by the East-West Rail Consortium, made up of councils, rail firms and regional development agencies, which is campaigning for reintroduction of rail services between Oxford and Bletchley, in the south of Milton Keynes, as a first step to reviving the route through to Cambridge, via Bedford, which closed in the 1960s.

The consortium also published a study on prospects for the rail link yesterday, which endorses a separate proposal for a second Oxford-London rail service, via Bicester, which would need a new connection between Bicester Town station and the Chiltern Line.

Adrian Saunders, of Oxfordshire County Council, said: "The East-West route will improve links between Oxford and Bicester, where we have a lot of congestion on the A34, and part of the Oxford to Cambridge hi-technology arc.

"The plan has been sitting around for 10 years and the housing plan for the county has been the catalyst, so it now stands a pretty good chance of coming to fruition."

The reports can be found online at www.eastwestrail.org