To be fair, NY → LA is over 4,000 KM. Would you fly to say, Bulgaria? Southern Italy?
Europe had a pretty decent overnight train network in the 90s and even into the 2000s.
Then flying got cheap and people basically didn't want to take those trains any longer. Most disappeared.
What, short of making flying much more expensive, would make a new attempt at introducing them successful, you think?
More onerous security procedures at airports, including pat-downs, extremely long lines, needing to show up 3-4 hours early, etc.?
Also, smaller and smaller seats on planes might encourage more use of trains. How do people from the Netherlands (tallest in the world on average) handle flying these days?