Business Notes

It isn't faster than a speeding bullet, but for Lone Star staters in a hurry the so-called bullet train authorized last week by the Texas high-speed rail authority may be the next best thing: a 200-m.p.h. high-tech wonder that . should eventually link Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin in a 620-mile commuter triangle -- America's first ultrafast rail line.

Texas went to the private sector for a train that could traverse the unending stretches of the Old West at a pace compatible with 21st century business. The winner of the 50-year franchise for the $5.5 billion project: Texas TGV, an alliance of 19 engineering firms and financiers from North America and France, where high-speed rail travel is a commonplace. The consortium promises a 1 1/2-hour Dallas-to-Houston run by 1998 (the trip now takes four hours by car). Opposing the move is Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which foresees government bailouts, high ticket prices and eventual failure for the futuristic choo-choo. If it is wrong, Southwest may have a hard time competing with the bullet, even though air travel is swifter still.