Why was there a proposal to establish different time zones?

Answer 1

Before there were time zones, each city kept its own time, with noon being the time when the sun was at its highest point over that city (plus or minus an "equation of time" offset to make each calendar day equal). So in a sense there were as many time zones as there were cities. That became increasingly more difficult to deal with as communication and travel became increasingly faster.

Answer 2

Different time zones were proposed to help regulate and standardize timekeeping across regions to facilitate coordination and communication, especially with the development of rail travel and global commerce in the 19th century. This system aimed to reduce confusion and improve efficiency by having a consistent way to account for time differences based on longitudinal position on the Earth.