Time zones, how the railroad industry changed our perception of time

Before the advent of the railroad transportation systems, people set their clocks according to the position of the sun. Each city had its own local time. The clocks in a city located farther west could be several minutes behind. 

This difference didn't cause any inconvenience when slow means of transportation were used. Journeys on horseback or in a carriage took so long that small differences in time did not matter.
The advent of the railroad system in the nineteenth century affected how these minutes were viewed.

Trains travel at a much higher speed than carriages, and that gain in velocity created the need for more accuracy.

Railway companies wanted precise schedules to allow for more predictable arrival and departure times. 

With those slight difference in time each city had a different timing. A train timetable required a lot of adjustments for the same journey, which complicated scheduling and increased the possibility for making mistakes. 

The railroad companies wanted to standardize the timing system to have a simple system that everyone could follow.
North American railroads introduced a timing concept based on four standard time zones with four different timing. This made it possible to have four different timing instead of different times for each city. 

This process divided the continent into few large regions where standard time was applied.
Later, governments adopted and regulated the time zones.
This illustrates how companies force societies to reorganize itself around a technology.
Time zones, nowadays, affect every aspect of our modern life, from businesses to schools to airplanes schedules.
Different parts of the world experience daylight at different times, and time zones allowed different regions to coordinate their activities and keep a local time that slightly corresponded to the position of the sun.
We are using a system that is the result of the practical demands of technology.