`BULLET' TRAINS A SHUTTLE ALTERNATIVE.

Byline: The New York Times

If you've taken the TGV in France, or its Paris-to-London cousin, the Eurostar, you already know what Amtrak's American Flyers will look and feel like when they begin competing with the Delta and USAir shuttles in the Northeast corridor in 1999.

The 18 six-car ``bullet'' trains recently ordered will shave travel time between New York and Washington by 30 minutes, reducing today's Metroliner run to 2-1/2 hours and making the plane-train choice for business travelers a real tossup. The New York-Boston trip will be shortened even more - from 4-1/2 hours to three.

Like the Eurostar, the Flyer will be a modified French TGV, which at 185 miles an hour is Europe's fastest train in commercial service. It will provide twin facing seats with a solid table in between with an electric outlet for laptop computers, as well as phone connections for modems. Seats will also offer airline-style electronic entertainment.

But because of Amtrak's serpentine roadbeds, the Flyers will have to poke along at 110 to 135 mph. There are only 33 miles, mostly in Rhode Island, where the trains will have enough straight track to hit 150 mph.

To keep passengers from feeling as if they're in a centrifuge on high-speed curves, the Flyers will incorporate so-called tilt technology. But there's no guarantee coffee won't spill.