Different commuter railroads in the US have figured out different pieces of the puzzle already. Caltrain and Denver RTD have electrification, Caltrain has modern trainsets. MBTA has urban "subway-lite" rail service on the Fairmount Line. SEPTA has had thru-running since the 1970s. Even FrontRunner in UT has a consistent, clockface schedule rather than a rush-hour based schedule.
The problem with legacy RRs like Metra is that lots of people enjoy the current paradigm, and those tend to be some of the wealthiest and most influential people in their respective metro areas. I think Metra and NY's MTA have a lot less flexibility to try out new stuff because so many people rely on the current service. I was hoping Covid would shatter the old assumptions, and it still might. If the Loop never goes above 60% of its old daytime occupancy, then Metra's gonna be running a lot of lightly-used rush hour trains.
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la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
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