Where's this information from that people are complaining about night trains being axed even though they are not being axed are flying anyway? That contradicts my experiences. Usually you need to buy places in night trains a long time in advance because they tend to run full-booked.
Also, China has high-speed night trains.
We could do the same. The infrastructure is in place for a night train from Stockholm to Barcelona. I would leave around six and arrive around ten. China is doing that, why are we not?