There are many more reasons to trade off , apart from Travel time when people choses to opt trains over Airplanes and money is one of the prime factor..
Look at Delhi - Ljn section for example.. or even Del Bhopal / VNS / ALD / BRC / Jammu
The main reason people opt trains over flight inspite from having good connectivity is cheap travel and comparable trimmings .
Train...
more... travels are always city center to City center and people trade off additional 2-2.5 hours if tickets are priced half than airfare and facilities provided are more....
South India lacks good higher speed rail sections , trains merely achieve 130 kmph , they schedule trains with additional slacks to keep them on time...
Railways have now only explored that people are willing to spend more if u provide better connectivity in terms Travel time , convinience and facilities..
See for eg. MDU tejas or SBC MAS shatabdis !
The train travel had demerrits when we talk of Secunderabad because rail routes are longer to major cities as compared to Highways ..
Which gives both roads and air travel a competitive advantage over trains