Japan's government and its rail companies lobbied the U.S. for years to sell their bullet-train technology and found little success. Finally, there's an international buyer: India.

The South Asian country is to become the first to import the iconic shinkansen technology after Japan's near-neighbor Taiwan, and that will be a highlight of India's infrastructure upgrade program. The Japanese government has also agreed to fund most of the $17 billion needed for the project that will become part of Asia's oldest railway network.

On Thursday, Indian leader Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally kicked off a plan to build the 506-kilometer (316-mile) bullet-train line — roughly the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Financing by Japan also means business farmed out to companies such as Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Hitachi Ltd. and East Japan Railway Co. and an opportunity lost for China's CRRC Corp. Ltd. and European manufacturers, including Alstom SA.