[citation needed] The Chicago South Suburban Mass Transit District was formed in 1967 in order to qualify for federal funding to purchase new equipment for the route.

In 1976, the newly formed Regional Transportation Authority began to fund the IC Electric commuter service.

Starting in 2005, the aged original fleet, which was increasingly prone to breakage and experiencing soaring maintenance costs, began to be phased out.

They were replaced by new Highliners built by Nippon Sharyo of Japan, the same company that is currently in charge of production of Metra's fleet of gallery cars.

The previous 65mph limit was a result of 1926 Pullman stock braking algorithms which were replaced by Highliner I and no longer relevant.