Traveling by train feels civilized—enjoying a meal onboard before settling into a cozy sleeper cabin as the moonlit landscape glides past.
Recently, I have taken overnight trains from Brussels to Vienna, bidding “gute Nacht” to Munich and “buongiorno” to Venice. Closer to home, the Caledonian Sleeper cuts the 643-kilometer journey between London and Edinburgh down to the length of a nap, complete with dinner, drinks, and breakfast served along the way.
Such overnight train journeys are a reality on both sides of the Atlantic, yet the trajectories for night trains in Europe and the United States are sharply diverging.
In 2025, Europe’s night train network is experiencing a renaissance. Driven by the flygskam movement—a Swedish term for the climate guilt associated with flying—Europe is expanding overnight rail routes to rival short-haul flights in speed, cost, comfort, and environmental impact. The European Union aims to double high-speed rail traffic by 2030, connecting all major cities across the bloc.
Meanwhile, the United States appears to be sleepwalking toward a transportation dead-end, slashing public infrastructure funding and reducing transit workforce. Long-distance public transportation in America is facing a stark choice: fast, exclusive, and environmentally damaging options, or slow, unreliable, and deteriorating services.
The U.S. has long been dominated by car culture. As Jack Kerouac famously asked in "On the Road," “Where are you going, America, in your shiny car tonight?” In 2025, the answer seems to be home or the nearest airport.
With many climate commitments and environmental protections eroded, the second term of former President Donald Trump marked a clear path toward more cars, planes, and fuel-hungry rockets. The national rail system is viewed by many as either a lost cause—embodied by the struggling Amtrak—or a mismanaged white elephant, as seen in several stalled high-speed rail projects.
Part of the challenge lies in America’s identity as a land of individual freedom, symbolized by the mid-20th century automobile. Yet this identity has not served Americans well. An April study titled “Does Car Dependence Make People Unhappy?” highlighted a strong link between heavy reliance on cars and declining happiness and mental health among U.S. drivers. Far from being symbols of freedom, cars increasingly represent frustration and a depressing necessity in a crowded nation with limited alternatives.
Instead of investing in alternatives that help people leave their cars at home, the typical U.S. response to congestion has been to build more lanes and highways. In a country where the car reigns supreme, expanding roadways is often presented as the only solution.
Upgrading and expanding rail and metro networks would seem an obvious way forward. Yet the United States frequently chooses to funnel millions—sometimes billions—into ambitious but unproven projects, niche urban transit experiments, or extravagant supersonic passenger planes. Elon Musk, America’s leading tech visionary, has praised China’s impressive high-speed rail network while disparaging U.S. railroads as a national embarrassment. The irony is striking given that his Hyperloop concept—a theoretical high-speed transit system now shelved—distracted significant potential investment away from established transportation systems across the country.
China’s highly successful high-speed rail network is built on clear factors: a consistent vision, bold commitment, nationwide deployment, and crucially, adequate funding.
The only transport system Musk has successfully built is a set of tunnels beneath Las Vegas for Tesla vehicles, resembling an underground rail service but currently far less efficient. Both Hyperloop capsules and Tesla sedans carry very limited passenger numbers, making their capacity laughably small.
There is also a renewed push to revive supersonic passenger planes. U.S.-based Boom Supersonic hopes to launch a 64-seat aircraft that overcomes some of the challenges that grounded the Concorde, including demand, cost, and regulation.
These futuristic options appeal to the wealthy few but leave the vast majority behind, reflecting a narrow and exclusive mindset. Whether five or 64 seats, such limited capacity cannot move a nation as large as the United States.
In an era where billionaires dream of ballistic futures beyond Earth, it is easy to dismiss older, underfunded technologies as obsolete. Yet the first railroads had their own 19th-century hype and were always built to serve the masses.
Trains symbolize community, connection, and shared purpose—the “coincidence of travel” evoked in Philip Larkin’s poem "May Wedding"—allowing chance meetings and brief encounters with fellow passengers. (I admit to being a non-driver who enjoys meeting and conversing with strangers on trains.)
Railroads, once the glamorous choice for travelers rich and poor alike, were a vital part of 20th-century culture, woven into the worlds of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Ian Fleming’s James Bond, and Alfred Hitchcock’s films. Hitchcock favored trains for their potent mix of speed, romance, and suspense, featuring defined passenger casts and lurking dangers.
However, the jet age and changing travel habits shifted thrillers from trains to planes, while U.S. railroads declined sharply.
In Europe, trains represent both tradition and innovation: old-world comfort combined with faster, modern rolling stock. For instance, driving from London to Berlin takes about 12 hours, while the fastest trains cover the distance in less than nine. In contrast, the 13-hour drive from New York to Chicago translates to roughly 20 hours by train.
Europeans enjoy night trains with beds because they value infrastructure that benefits everyone. If such commitment were extended to all 50 U.S. states—so dependent on cars and planes—it would be a game changer. No matter the size or divisions within the United States, revitalized railways offer a promising path forward. Traveling across the country by day or night, watching the nation pass by, and connecting with fellow citizens and strangers alike—there has never been a better time to rediscover and rebuild this American dream.
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