The plans for a long-sought after high-tech, high-speed rail line between the United States and Mexico just took a step forward as officials from Texas and Mexico held a high level meeting on Thursday with the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.

The proposed high-speed rail line has been a long-term project of proponents both in San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico, who have lobbied for a high-speed connection for years. The high-tech super-fast train would be capable of taking passengers between the two cities, across the U.S. boarder city of Laredo, within a two-hour time frame, according to Fox News.

Now, it could actually happen within a few years -- possibly as soon as 2018.

High-speed passenger rail has been under consideration in some parts of Texas since the late 1980s, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. It appeared to be an attainable goal at times, like when a private consortium was awarded a franchise to design, build, and operate a high-speed rail line in the state in the 1990s. However, lack of funding and other developments prevented the project from moving forward. Another proposal failed, too, when in 2000 Amtrak said it was planning a new route between the two cities but never got the project off the ground.

But a new push to connect San Antonio and Monterrey -- which are about 300 miles apart, meaning about a five hour drive, currently, to travel between the two, or a costly flight -- could connect both nations in way that boosts the economy, and cultural exchange, of each side. The plan for the high-tech railroad was presented in Washington D.C. by democratic U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar (of Texas), Texas Department of Transportation commissioner Jeff Austin, and high-level Mexican officials, to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx.

"Secretary Foxx and his team are interested," Cuellar said to Fox. "A high-speed rail between San Antonio and Monterrey through Laredo would revolutionize trade and travel between the United States and Mexico."

On the Mexican side of the boarder, the high-speed rail line has already made a lot of political progress: Marco Antonio Gonzalez Valdez, a Nuevo León congressman, said that railway reforms proposed by President Enrique Pena Nieto are on their way to passing Congress in the next few months, opening Mexico's railroad industry to more private investment, which is key for funding the San Antonio-Monterrey line. In addition, Mexican federal government funding and resources from the state of Nuevo Leon are already approved and ready for the project.

The cost of the rail line will be shared by both Mexico and the U.S., along with a hefty dose of private funds. For its part, Mexico estimates its share will be around $1.5 billion. However, the U.S. still has to finish a $5.6 million dollar 850-mile high-speed rail study -- which is slated to be finished by December 2014 -- before lining up funds and talking to the private sector.

Other considerations and obstacles must be worked through as well, like setting up immigration pre-clearance and customs checks, so that the train wouldn't have to make a time and energy-consuming stop at Laredo before crossing the boarder.

Also, as Mexico continues to fight a bloody war against drug cartel, safety and security problems may arise: Monterrey has been in the crosshairs of warring drug cartels in the past. "It will be a non-stop train," said Chief of Staff for the governor of Nuevo Leon, Jorge Domene Zombrano, responding to those concerns.

The main obstacle appears to be the successful completion of the Texas rail study and, if all goes well, construction may begin as early as 2015 with an end date in 2018.