Japan May Offer $210 Million Loan for Florida High-Speed Train

Japan may offer as much as $210 million in loans to help pay for a Florida high-speed railway as a Central Japan Railway Co.-led group competes against Asian and European companies to build the first U.S. bullet-train line.

State-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation may lend as much as 60 percent of the Florida project’s overall funding shortfall as part of JR Central’s bid, Tadashi Maeda, head of corporate planning, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. The project has a funding gap of about $350 million, according to Florida Rail Enterprise, the state agency responsible for it.