Houston to Dallas: As Fast As A Speeding Bullet Train?

While DART officials struggle to make the dream of quick, efficient transportation a reality in Dallas (see story page 66). two separate investor groups are pursuing projects to connect Dallas and Houston by high-speed rail and Dallas and Fort Worth by monorail. One of the projecis appears feasible, the other a pipe dream.

The German High Speed Consortium, a group of West German electrical and mechanical firms, is discussing with Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad some ambitious plans to build high-speed “bullet trains” between Dallas and Houston. Herman Eisele, marketing manager for the consortium, says the trains would travel at an average speed of more than 220 miles per hour, covering the distance between Houston and Dallas in seventy to eighty minutes.

If all goes well, Eisele says, the train service could begin as early as 1993, and would include similar types of service that airlines provide, but with more space and freedom of movement for passengers. The project would cost approximately $1.5 billion to complete. The ICE (InterCity Express) trains could carry roughly 20.000 passengers daily, leaving downtown Dallas and Houston every half hour during rush hour.

Meanwhile, a Fort Worth man is looking to Disneyland for his plans to hook up the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth with a monorail. “I wrote a letter to the folks at Disneyland for information.” says William L. Light-foot Jr., CEO of Fort Worth & Dallas Monorail Systems. “That’s the only monorail there is. The only other one in the world is Japanese.”

Lightfoot, a retired industrial writer, last March began circulating letters to prominent businessmen in Dallas and Fort Worth introducing his project and soliciting funds to construct fifty miles of monorail service between the two cities. “Right now I’m trying to find out how much it’s going to cost,” he says. His investment solicitation literature says his company’s goal is to “sell one or more shares of common stock at $50 par value to every teenager, young adult, and mature person in the Fort Worth-Dallas Metroplex.” Why does Lightfoot feel qualified to take on such a large project? “I live in Fort Worth and I go to Dallas every Sunday,” he says. “There’s need for a fast, safe way to get from Fort Worth to Dallas. If | you had the idea, well, you could do it too. If you have a dream, go make it come true.”