How I wish this was a thing in the U.S. In '04 I traveled by night train from Odessa to Vienna and I have to say the experience is far more pleasant than air travel (even with the somewhat outdated fleet of Ukrainian trains at the time). The perceived passage of time is far shorter and yet you have the opportunity to watch the scenery go by if you wish, or get off for a few minutes on the occasional stop before the train enters the night regime. To say nothing of being able to sleep in a horizontal position...
Uh, this _is_ a thing in the US. Amtrak has many overnight routes with sleeper cars.
Sure, it's a thing - but not at the scale, schedule, and price of the european system. Comforts aside that is what makes it a great alternative to flying there. I could have been more specific.
True. But taking an overnight trip from NYC to Chicago is something you can do right now that is just as pleasant as the experience you described. There's definitely fewer options for destinations or schedules but the experience is there if you want it.