Rail minister Simon Burns said a High Court ruling into government consultations on the planned HS2 high-speed rail scheme is "a major landmark victory" for the project.
The government won nine out of 10 points being challenged, effectively giving the "green light" to the project, he said.
However, the consultation into compensation for those affected has been ruled "unlawful" by the judge.
Protest groups had taken legal action.
They had claimed there were failures in the consultation process and in assessing the high-speed link's environmental impact.
But speaking after the judgement, Mr Burns said the judge had delivered a "convincing decision... on all the key issues of the way in which the Department for Transport has handled the moving forward of HS2".
He told the BBC: "He has given us the "green light" to move forward... subject to the necessary parliamentary approvals.
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Rail minister Simon Burns said the decision effectively gave HS2 a "green light"
"That is good news, because the project is in the national interest."
The minister confirmed the government will not appeal against the compensation ruling. Instead, the DfT will hold another property consultation "picking up the points" raised by the judge on Friday.
The department confirmed that the re-running of the consultation "will not affect the HS2 construction timetable in any way". The London to Birmingham section of the link aims to be running by 2025.
The decision on compensation was a victory for the High Speed 2 Action Alliance (HS2AA), consisting of more than 70 affiliated groups and residents' associations.
The group's QC, David Wolfe, successfully argued that the survey and decision-making process on compensation was "fundamentally unfair".
About 172,000 properties within 0.6 miles (1km) of the first phase are alleged to be affected by "HS2 blight".
Hilary Wharf, director of HS2AA, said the judgement was "a huge victory for the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives are blighted by HS2".
She added: "The government must now go back to the drawing board and rethink its approach to compensation.
"There are many better compensation alternatives which would help all those up and down the country trapped by HS2."
The second phase of the £33bn project, north from Birmingham in a Y-shaped extension to Manchester and Leeds, could be operational by about 2032-33.
Five judicial reviews were brought by four protest groups, including HS2AA, several councils and a golf club.
The objections brought to court also included the claim that the government failed to adequately assess alternatives to the scheme.
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