Handsomedan:

 

Hmmm...having been in jobs (in the past) where I travelled AKL-WLG regularly, I would have to say that the appeal of catching a train at night to arrive next morning is almost zero. 
Getting to the airport and getting on a plane quicker are far more appealing than spending hours on a train at night and losing two nights of my own time on a one day business trip. 

 

It appeals from a holiday perspective, but the cost of a train to WLG is not even closely comparable to flying, so I haven't done that for leisure, either. 

 

Aside from the rise in remote meetings, which are even better than travel in many cases, I think people really need to get over this 'slightly less convenient' thing. The world is burning because we want everything to be slightly more convenient.

The last two times I needed to to Palmerston North or Wellington I drove down in the EV. Not sure either was really much less convenient than flying, especially once you consider getting to and from the airports at each end - I live about an hour from Auckland Airport, best case - but either way it was a pretty small sacrifice in the scheme of things.