Yet the story of the project's failure is more complicated. Then, as now, supporters are heralding the possibility of travel between Dallas and Houston in less than 90 minutes. The current plan would use technology from the Central Japan Railway Company, which handles more than 100 million passengers each year on its bullet trains in Japan. During the 1990s, Japanese firms were among several foreign companies that considered partnering with American firms to bid on a high-speed rail franchise, state records show. The Texas Legislature had created the Texas High-Speed Rail Authority in 1989 to explore the potential for such a franchise after a study had found that the region's generally flat land and fast-growing population made it an ideal location. Lawmakers made clear that the authority could only consider proposals that were privately funded. "It is not in the public interest that a high-speed rail facility be built, financed, or operated by the public sector," the bill creating the authority read.