When I was traveling with my cat from Budapest to Chisinau, the sleeper berths were inexpensive enough to have one to ourselves. We made many friends on both trains as word got out there was a cat passenger.
She enjoyed being able to treat the sleeper like a living room, too.
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If it wasn’t for my dog, I would speak to far fewer strangers. She is a people magnet. Since I can be a bit of an introvert I appreciate the help.
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In a perfect train world, I’d at least be able to reserve a kosher meal for a long ride but I expect that it would in reality end up like air travel where there’s a 1 in 4 chance my order will be messed up and I’ll have to dig into whatever food I packed just in case.
Sleeper trains are a very rare thing here in Japan in 2020. “Short” high speed rail like Tokyo to Osaka takes 3hrs and costs more than air travel (including time to Haneda airport and from Osaka airport). Flights up to Sapporo or down to Kumamoto (northern and south western major destinations) take far less time than high speed rail and cost far less.
Same problem with rail in Japan. Unfortunately there is no “carry on only” rule so passengers just bring their big suitcases with them into the train car and rarely put them in the overhead rack. Very annoying because it impedes movement.
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Um, you should really read someone knowledgeable in the subject, because the putative benefits you mention are at best nominal. Turns out, humans are pretty smart drivers already! And volume and speed are pretty limited. The difference between even magically optimal traffic and conventional mass transit is not percentile points that faster cars can shave off, it’s orders of magnitude that no amount of traffic optimization can match.
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I used to take the Broadway Ltd. several times/year between Chicago and Philadelphia; these were the days when the club car still had parties all night long. However, air travel got cheaper (and less pleasant), rail travel more expensive (and less pleasant), and after getting stuck en route in the Johnstown disaster of 1977 I switched permanently. Update the infrastructure, bring back the club car, and drop the price, and I’d happily go back to train travel (though it is not really convenient from where I live nowadays).
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As someone who wants to take amtrak more lately: one thing that they could really stand to improve is the booking prices. When I book a round trip flight the price I’m selecting for the flight there is (more or less) the price I’m going to pay. On Amtrak I always look at the prices for the trip out and then totally forget that this is only half of the price. I’d much rather that they doubled the price and gave me a better idea of my total pay.
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It’s all routes. I looked into it, thinking it would be a fun way to go see the nation with my 100-pound dog. I have written a strongly worded letter to the Amtrak administration decrying their size-ism against doggies and I hope you will, too!
I could certainly understand, say, requiring proof of vaccination and even a Canine Good Citizen certificate. But my huge lazy fluffer is much less likely to annoy passersby than a poorly trained Jack Russel is. Mere size doesn’t make much sense.
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Rome feels you…
Put briefly, your pet dog need only be leashed and muzzled to travel on Rome’s public transit, but there is a fee. Broadening the focus beyond Rome, small pets in carriers travel for free on Trenitalia regional and long-distance trains, while there is a fee for larger dogs.
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And I bet, like my dog, is better behaved than most children.
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I find that my children are better-behaved when leashed and kenneled, for sure. 
Anyone who happens to find themselves in the Sacramento, California area would do well to stop by the state’s railroad museum. The walk-through exhibit of classic sleeping and dining cars makes me long for that era’s elegant travel. It’s always hard to step off the car and return to the current timeline.
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An elegant form of travel for a more civilized age.
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We used to take the sleeper between London and Aberdeen. You could also take your car on to the train. It was wonderful: you got to your destination first thing in the morning and you could just drive off.
I really wish they had that service where I live in North America. (Or failing that a decent passenger train service between the city I live in and the city my extended family lives in.)
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Amtrak runs one and only one such service, the Auto Train from Lorton, VA (DC area) to Sanford, FL (sort of near Orlando).
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It’s hard to imagine that such thing could be done, even in China, but after a little search I found that:
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Of course they are. It’s a small country, there isn’t much opportunity for journeys that extend overnight.
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Move fast and break things.
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