Dallas city leaders took their first official action to bring a high speed rail from Houston to Dallas.
On Wednesday, they approved a deal, with the private company planning the train line, to pay the city's expenses for a permit.
The goal is to use technology like the bullet train in Japan to make the Houston to Dallas trip in 90 minutes.
On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council agreed to receive $1.5 million from Texas Central Railway.
The money will to cover fees and engineering on an Army Corp of Engineers permit, which is needed for a train crossing planned over the Trinity River.
It will be years before the high speed rail gets here, but this shows the project is moving forward.
"We are making great progress, this is another milestone today," said Holly Reed with Texas Central Partners. "And we expect to break ground, the earliest the end of '17 or into '18."
A downtown Dallas station location has been identified near Interstate 30 with fast connections to DART rail and major freeways, and a separate leg to Fort Worth is in the works.
