Gilroy, San Jose, Merced, Fresno, Tulare/Kings, Bakersfield and Palmdale are eligible to apply for up to $700,000 in federal stimulus funds and $200,000 in state stimulus funds to help plan for high-speed rail stations, according to a rail authority press release.

Just how much each city receives will be based on the cost of individual planning efforts and available matching funds.

In December, the rail authority was awarded $616 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds after more than a billion dollars in federal stimulus money was reallocated to California and 12 other states when governors from Ohio and Wisconsin said they would not use the funds to build rail systems in their states.

The CHSRA requested a portion of those funds be available for station-area planning, and $4.5 million was set aside for that purpose, according to the rail authority.

The CHSRA said the funds would be available in the 2011-12 fiscal year.

On Monday, the Gilroy City Council approved a staff-picked firm to conduct a station visioning project, which will analyze Gilroy's two station location options - downtown and east of U.S. Highway 101.

Funding for that project will come courtesy of a $150,000 matching grant from the Valley Transportation Authority and $50,000 from the City of Gilroy, according to city officials.

When completed, California's high-speed rail project is expected to span 800 miles from Sacramento to San Diego and carry a price tag of roughly $45 billion.

Construction on the project could begin as early as 2013, starting with the Bakersfield-to-Fresno corridor, according to the CHSRA.