>>1286308A 180 km/h electric train is interesting, but this was an interurban, and while I will admit that the Electroliner was a neat idea, faster trains existed beforehand.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft operated a number of prototype Diesel Multiple Units in the 1930s with rail speed records set in 1936 and 1939. One of the models was known as the "Flying Hamburger" in the Anglosphere. DRG planned to operate high speed services at 160 km/h, although the trains were capable of 215 km/h. WWII got in the way of those plans.
The thing is, the Electroliners were weird. Only 2 were built and once the North Shore Line went bankrupt (as a result of the Great Depression), they went down to Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, post WWII France broke many speed records with their various electric locomotives, and France moved to develop ever faster and faster trains, eventually resulting in the TGV.
