Japan told the United States last year it might provide a ¥500 billion ($479 million) loan to build a magnetically levitated train system on the U.S. East Coast, government sources said Saturday.

The money will cover half the estimated ¥1 trillion cost of constructing the maglev line between Washington and Baltimore. Having made the informal offer of financing, Japan will keep pressing Washington to approve the project, the sources said.

The offer was put forward in working-level talks after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed in a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington last February that Tokyo provide necessary technological support, they said.

Japan is considering providing the loan through the government-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the sources said.