Six southeastern states are banding together to push for a high-speed train network that would connect the region and link it with Washington, D.C. Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee and their allies in Congress recently won $750,000 in federal funds to study the possibility of such a system, according to USA Today. Business leaders in the region, who are spearheading the effort, are touting the rail proposal's unusual financing scheme. The federal government would pay for building the rail network at an estimated cost of about $6 billion. Once completed, a private company would operate it, using its own rail cars and without government subsidies, said the paper. Experts say, efforts like this are incremental steps toward a network that even the most optimistic proponents say is at least five to seven years away from completion of its first leg.