What's new is really old. . .
I remember the Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend railroad -- an all-electric railroad that hauled some freight and lots of passengers to and from the big city back in the mid-part of the last century. My dad would take the South Shore from Michigan City, Indiana - the nearest the South Shore came to our home in southwest Michigan - and go to Chicago Monday mornings and Return Friday evenings. He'd take "The Morning Hotshot" into Chicago -- and the "Evening Hot Shot" on the way back out. Those trains ran daily at commuting times -- and both were not only expresses that only stopped at a few of the many stations, but both were labeled as "the fastest regularly-scheduled trains in America" at the time. They'd boogie along at 100-120 mph, getting the workers to their jobs with the least amount of time wasted while on the train. I rode the Hot Shot a few times -- it was thrilling, more so as I think back about the rest of the technology that went with -- the rickety (at least by today's standards) cars and roadbed, the many grade crossings where cars and trucks would (we hoped!) patiently wait for the train to zoom past.
Not any more, darn it. . .