GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Transportation officials finalized the route Thursday on which high-speed trains would thunder through the Southeast, and it includes stops in the Triad's three largest cities, the Greensboro News & Record reports.

The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to run trains at 110 mph between Washington and Charlotte. It had selected nine possible routes and asked riders, local governments and business leaders to pick the best one. They considered potential ridership, income, cost, ease of construction and environmental impacts.

Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board on Thursday chose the route that would send trains from Richmond to Raleigh, Burlington, Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, Lexington and Salisbury on the way to Charlotte. Virginia's was the final state approval needed; North Carolina had signed off on the route a few weeks ago. The U.S. DOT now will review the plan. The next hurdle is to persuade the federal government to come up with more than $2.6 billion it will take to build the line.

With speedy funding, the line could be open by 2010.

The trains could be another way for visitors to reach High Point for the semiannual International Home Furnishings Market, High Point Mayor Arnold Koonce said Thursday. He believes the city's commitment to spend nearly $6 million renovating its old train station may have kept High Point on the route.

"I do know that if we had not done it," Koonce said, "it would have passed us by."

Greensboro officials also were excited about the decision.

"Particularly with the extended time now it takes to fly to get through security, I think it will be a very viable option," said Sandy Carmany, a Greensboro councilwoman and a leader in local transportation planning.

A lot of planning remains to be done. Specific track locations must be selected, as well as station locations.

Amtrak already runs trains between Charlotte and Washington through the Triad, but not as quickly. The route chosen Thursday would go from Charlotte to Washington in about six hours as opposed to the current eight- or 10-hour ride. The sticking point in some of the planning was whether to include Winston-Salem. Some routes proposed running trains from Greensboro to Winston-Salem, skipping High Point. Others linked Greensboro and High Point but left out Winston-Salem. A few skipped the Triad altogether.

The route selected Thursday runs from Greensboro to High Point, with a side connection to Winston-Salem.

"Communities throughout both states expressed enthusiastic support for the project and told us they want high-speed rail," said Lyndo Tippett, N.C. transportation secretary. "But nowhere was that support more obvious than in the Winston-Salem area. It makes good economic sense to include them."

Trains eventually could continue from Charlotte to Atlanta and Jacksonville, Fla.