Train travel tend to be much more comfortable than bus, car or plane. Especially if the plane takes as long time due to airports being located outside the city, security hazel, lots of stress at the airport and so on.

The train cost more, but you enter the train in the city centre, sit down and relax, go to the restaurant car and eat a nice dinner, relax som more and you arrive in the destination city.

This works better in continental Europe, where you have shorter distances and high speed trains between the capitols, often making the train faster from city centre to city centre than air travel. Traveling from Chicago to SF by train is pleasant, but take a couple days, not a couple of hours.

I'd pay extra to take the train for shorter trips. The entire experience is better, from not passing through a security theater production to the larger seats. I've never had a train sitting on the tarmac for hours, either, my plane trips frequently involve waits and delays.